Konoha's Panther
by Sefrys
Summary: Bleach x-over - After his death, someone offered Grimmjow an offer he couldn't refuse. Now he's stuck within his successor! - Minato & Kushina are alive, Grimmjow-like Naruto, rated M for blood and language. Naruto x Yugito. Will be epic in length!
1. Chapter 1

This is an idea that had been bugging me for quite some time. If I get good feedback on it, I'll continue writing it. **I do not own Naruto or Bleach**

**Revisited 29.01.2013**

* * *

Pain and regret.

That was what he felt right now. He was lying on his back in the pool of his own blood. Eyelids of his light blue eyes were slowly closing themselves as his life force slowly slipped away. _'So this is how I die? Pathetic, but I can't help but wonder what awaits me after the death... hold on, Technically I'm dead, so I'm dying again. So what the hell will happen now? Shit...' _He thought and released a painful groan.

His name was Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, the 6th Espada and an Arrancar, a hollow, an evil soul. He was a tall, muscular man with light blue spiky hair and light blue eyes, the latter included green lines under them. His attire consisted of a white jacket with black outlines, a pair of white baggy pants with same black edges and a belt. His clothes had several cuts on them due to previous fighting. Though now they were dirty, both with dirt, his and Ichigo's blood.

_'Cursed fucker, stepped into my fight...' _Grimmjow swore. Even when he was out of strength, he managed to muster the rest of his energy he had stood up and attacked Kurosaki Ichigo, a human Shinigami or as modern people would call them 'Soul Reapers'. However, when he took one step, his comrade's weapon, a zanpakuto or a Soul Slayer that belonged to Nnoitra Gilga slashed his neck, leaving him to death. _'And here I am dying... huh, I just hope Ichigo will fucking kill this bastard Aizen' _He mused as his life finally slipped away.

Aizen was a tyrant, once a Shinigami who went rogue against the whole Soul Society. His power was so immense that he managed to conquer Hollow's territory - Hueco Mundo.

And here, in Hueco Mundo in the palace Las Noches lay Grimmjow, a self-claimed Panther King. Even if self-claimed, he had the power to back it up. In fact, he had it in spades… but apparently not enough.

Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, the sixth Espada passed away.

The King was dead.

* * *

Endless void.

That was where recently dead Panther King woke up. Grimmjow opened his eyes and saw nothing but black. Not surprising since he was in void. He tried to stand up and looked around to see if there was at least some light around, but with no success.

There was only darkness. He brought his arm in front of him and noticed that he could see it clearly, even with lack of light.

"Is anyone in here?" He asked loudly. He knew that he was dead, again. But this definitely was not what he expected. A soul like him that had died once again should have been reincarnated as an entirely new being, so what was going on here?

Grimmjow sat down and propped his jaw with his arm. He stared out into the void for what seemed hours. "Just fucking great... I'll be either bored out of my mind or I'll go insane!" He whined. That was when he noticed that his blue-hilted katana was still by his side. "So what am I supposed to do? Commit seppuku?"

Seppuku was rather… interesting way of committing suicide. It was performed very often back in the medieval Asia when a samurai lost his battle, shaming himself for his emperor at the same time. The ritual was performed by kneeling down and stabbing your own guts with your own sword which you had used to slain your enemy. People who had a creative minds even tended to write poems with their blood. Too bad Grimmjow wasn't a brilliant thinker.

**"I'm afraid that this is not the case."** A rather amused voice spoke behind Grimmjow's back. He quickly jumped on his feet and took out his katana to encounter the enemy. However there was no one behind him.

"Great, now I'm going insane of all times." The Arrancar groaned and turned back around. Much to his surprise he saw a silhouette in the darkness. It gave off a faint, white glow that let Grimmjow see the edges of figure's body. The person's eyes were open allowing Grimmjow to see them. They had rippled-like pattern that seemed to spread over the sclera that normally would be white. That was not the case; the sclera was light purple and the pupil was just a tiny dot where the circles that spread over the eye began.

**"There is much for you to do, Grimmjow. I can't afford you dying just yet." **The figure spoke with voice that was calm and relaxed, but for some reason it also screamed danger and authority.

"Who the hell are you?" Grimmjow growled. He was taken aback by the person's sudden appearance. Even if Grimmjow haven't felt fear in long time, he felt fear right now, right here. He could literally feel the power that was coming from this man, and it was far greater than that tyrant's Aizen. "And where the fuck am I?!" He demanded. That's not a normal day when you wake up in middle of nowhere and are encountered by someone far beyond your league.

The figure chuckled, something that almost ticked Grimmjow off, again. **"That short temper of yours, you should work on it."** Grimmjow heard the figure answer, but before he could say anything the person in front of him snapped its fingers.

To Grimmjow's shock, one moment was he in the middle of an abyss, and now he was in a desert. It wasn't a regular desert though. It was the desert of Hueco Mundo. The white sand, the endless night and few dead trees scattered over the dunes. Yes, that was very similar to Hueco Mundo.

**"I've been watching you for quite some time now."** The man in front of Grimmjow spoke again. Since the darkness disappeared he could see the person in front of him clearly. It was a young man with spiky black hair that seemed to spike off above his forehead into two horns. He was wearing a long white coat and a necklace that consisted of six magatamas. The magatama was a stone carved into a shape of a tear. For what reason, no one knows.

**"I should introduce myself first, I am someone you'd call The Sage of Six Paths. Though, I doubt you know of me as I don't exist in your universe." **The now introduced Sage explained. The part of not existing in Grimmjow's universe confused the confusion written all over the Arrancar's face brought a smile on Sage's own, along with an explanation.** "I am the god of a different universe and I need your help to save it, the Spirit King already agreed to my terms."**

Now that frightened Grimmjow. You don't meet someone who held this much power and claimed to be a god, on a daily basis. Well, there was Aizen, but Aizen didn't have this much power as the one in front of Grimmjow, and the said Sage just felt much wiser, pretty obvious since he was a sage, a person with incredible amount of wisdom.

But the Spirit King agreeing to someone's terms? That was unheard of. Hell, that entity was completely shrouded in secrecy. The only facts known about the Spirit King were that he was the one who kept the balance between Soul Society, a place that was the residence of Soul Reapers and where souls traveled after their death, and world of living. He was supposedly a god, the same god Aizen attempted to overthrow.

Grimmjow needed explanations, and he needed them fast. "Where are we then? Am I dead? And why do you need my assistance?"

The Rikudo Sennin chuckled softly and began answering his questions. **"You were dead already so that doesn't really matter. We are in a place that had never been visited by anyone else in long time. This is where I observe what is happening around in world that is under my watch. Though, when I'm alone, this place looks much different, but you don't need to worry about that."** He took a slight inhale and continued.** "There is a sad fact about it too, I can only observe what is happening out there and have no possibility of interfering directly. This is why you are here. There is an inevitable disaster approaching and I can only watch, that is why I need your help." **The man explained. As he saw Grimmjow nod in understatement, he continued. **"As I said, I can't directly intervene in the living's affairs. But I can indirectly. You see, placing you inside an infant is within my approach and you will make him your successor, he along with another will save this world. That is, if you co-operate…"**

Grimmjow interrupted him in the middle of a sentence. "Hold your horses, why the hell should I help you? I already followed a guy who considered himself a god once and it didn't end well. I'm dead so why should I care?" Grimmjow said and quickly regretted it. A giant pressure fell atop of his shoulders, completely crashing him into the ground.

**"You will co-operate with me, or I will send you into depths of hell for an eternity of misery!"** The man roared, startling the 6th Espada. Something in back of his head told Grimmjow to obey the man's words and decided not to anger him anymore. He quickly apologized and agreed to the terms.

The Sage of Six Paths gently smiled. **"As I said, I will place you inside an infant. A boy in fact, his name will be Naruto. He's the one of two Children of Prophecy, the ones destined to save the world and you will guide him, so far with me?" **The black haired sage asked to whichGrimmjow nodded.

He liked the idea of having a successor, it was appealing to him. He haven't thought about having a successor ever before. His fraccion - a rank his subordinates had - were too dumb to be trained properly.

Disrupting him from his thought, the Sage in front of him made a wave with his hand. With a bright shimmer, out of nowhere a window opened before them. Grimmjow looked into it and saw a rather large village that was surrounded by woods. **"This is Konoha, the Village hidden in Leaves. It's a powerful village that has ninja as its major military force."** Grimmjow was about to bark in laughter and speak about nonsense, when the Sage continued.

**"Yes ninja, don't be so surprised, after all you are a hollow soul that was evil. Now back to the topic, in about five hours, a powerful demon will be released upon it, but before it happens I will place you into Naruto who isn't born yet."**

The blue haired man narrowed his eyes. "Anything I should know before you send me there?" He asked and got his answer.

**"Ah, there is." **The man began. **"I've already seen the world's future, but I will only tell you an important part of it. Naruto, the kid will slowly distance himself away from his family, because of his behavior and appearance. He will feel like he does not belong to them. However, even without his family, he will push forward. This is your secondary mission. To give him a father he never would have."** The man explained surprising Grimmjow once more.

"Me a father? You've got to be kidding me..."

The man before Grimmjow burst into laughter. **"Oh don't worry about that. Your presence within his soul will affect his DNA, mostly overpowering the genes that are currently written in them and he will acquire many of your traits... unfortunately, your short temper will be along these traits." **He groaned, pissing Grimmjow off.

"Shut up!" He shouted, only making the so-called god burst into laughter once more.

**"That's what I'm talking about!"**

Grimmjow sighed and calmed his anger with a great effort. "Alright, that's better than burning in hell, bring it on."

The Sage smiled. **"Oh, before I send you there, this is a gift for** **Naruto." **He said and threw Grimmjow a two feet long scroll with blue flame markings on the bottom and green lightning markings on the top.** "And you can consider yourself as Naruto's father, congratulations!" **He laughed and flicked Grimmjow's forehead, knocking him out and transferring into Naruto's soul.

* * *

_Nine years later._

A nine years old boy walked through Konoha's streets on his way to the academy. His hair was spiky blonde with many blue streaks in it - though one could argue if it actually was blue hair with blonde streaks, they were evenly grown - and his eyes were light blue and had sharp, black outlines. Under each eye was a horizontal green marking which no one knew where they came from - he had them ever since his birth and were like tattoos. However, eventual visit to the hospital confirmed that the markings were naturally colored skin, something that baffled the doctors.

His jaw-line was sharp. It was built in a way that let him make a freaky predatory grin, which he did from time to time. The boy's face didn't resemble his parents in any way - except the slight golden tinges to his hair and the similar hairstyle - his father's face was that of girly heart-shape, and his mother's was rounder.

His name was Namikaze Naruto. Though, he didn't ever consider himself as a part of the family. He had the feeling like he didn't belong there. Naruto even suspected that he was adopted as he looked completely different than his parents. His sister, an auburn haired girl with blue eyes and heart shaped face, looked like a carbon copy of his mother, except she had auburn hair, not blood red in color as her mother. Her name was Akiho and she was a person that annoyed him the most. She tried approaching him every goddamn day, asking him to train with her or just simply hang out.

Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, his biological parents couldn't figure out the reason why he disliked them so much. At first, they thought that he was entering 'this' age of rebellion against parents, but after some time they noticed that this was a genuine dislike.

Speaking of his parents, Namikaze Minato was a tall handsome man in his late twenties. His spiky hair was sun-kissed blonde in color and he had a heart shaped face with narrow sky blue eyes. He was known to many by the title of Konoha no Kiroii Senko, The Yellow Flash of Konoha,because of his amazing skills with Fuinjutsu - the sealing arts - that let him create the Hiraishin. Hiraishin was a technique that acquired him an SS-rank in the bingo book, becoming the first person with such high rank in a book where all names and known information about famous ninjas were stored and distributed around the world. Most of people in the bingo book were the missing-ninjas, those who went rogue against their respective village by committing crimes, but there were other dangerous men and women who weren't rogue. Minato was a prime example of that.

Naruto's mother on the other hand, was a red haired beauty with large, round violet eyes. She was known as Hokage's wife, former Jinchuuriki of Kyuubi no Yoko and Akai Chishio no Habanero - Red-Hot Blooded Habanero -, a nick name she acquired because of her beautiful red-hair and her tomboyish attitude.

Naruto released a deep sigh he had held for quite some time, and entered the academy where he took his sweet time to find his classroom. After few minutes of his lazy walk he entered the loud classroom. He noticed that it was already full and that the teacher already began his lecture.

"Naruto, you're late - again!" A tall man who had tanned skin and a horizontal scar through his nose on his face yelled. His name was Umino Iruka, a chunnin level shinobi who was an instructor at the academy ever since he got injured on a mission. Iruka was also the one of few people Naruto somewhat liked.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yeah, who gives a damn?" He muttered and ignored Iruka's protests about his cussing. Naruto seated himself on a seat all the way back in the classroom.

Iruka sighed, the boy's ignorance and behavior was beyond him. He decided not to press on that matter and continued his lecture. What he was talking about, was about the previous Hokages and their greatest accomplishments. "Now, who can tell me, how did the Sandaime Hokage die?" He asked the students. Naruto groaned, already knowing who would answer that question.

A girl with a tight, sleeveless, orange jumpsuit with fishnet covering the orange material on her abdomen raised her arm. The instructor smiled slightly and pointed at the girl. "Can you tell us what happened the night he died?" Iruka told her to answer.

Akiho smiled and stood up. "The Sandaime Hokage died nine years ago with an act of ultimate sacrifice during the attack of the Nine-tailed fox demon, Kyuubi no Yoko by sealing it into me. Formerly, my father was supposed to seal the beast and die doing so, but the Sandaime intervened and knocked my father out and did the sealing himself. He used the Shiki Fuujin to seal half of the beast's chakra into himself, and before he died he sealed the other half into an infant - me." The girl proudly answered. Iruka congratulated her for the right answer and noted it down.

The knowledge about Namikaze Akiho being a container of Kyuubi and about the events that happened during that night was common. The Elemental Countries, mainly Iwa and Kumo were hesitant about attacking Konoha because of Yondaime Hokage and his Hiraishin. The fact that Konoha had a Kyuubi Jinchuuriki on their disposal, successfully got rid of any threats from Kumo and Iwa.

Naruto groaned once more after she answered. As much as he hated to admit it, she was a genius. She inherited her father's intelligence and cunningness, as well as her mother's knack for Ninjutsu – although, she pushed herself more into the art of seals than learning ninjutsu.

The girl was considered a prodigy in both strategy and fuinjutsu skills, and she knew of several C and D ranked techniques in both wind and water affinity and her skills in Shogi were on par with the best chunin strategists, and she often played against her father or against the Jonin Commander - Nara Shikaku. As the veteran strategist complimented her, she had a brilliant mind of a strategist.

Naruto was quite the opposite. While the girl was calm, his temper was lethally short. Also his hostility against anyone who threatened him acquired him quite a reputation within the academy. For some reason, he always favored the swordsman ship and hand-to-hand combat. His skills in both Kenjutsu and Taijutsu were surprisingly high, already at low Chunnin-level at the age of nine. While his chakra reserves were average, Naruto's stamina was amazing, on par with Konoha's Taijutsu specialist, Maito Gai.

He yawned when Iruka announced that it was already time for lunch break. He lazily stood up and walked towards the door. As he reached the door he felt something unfamiliar, different, which sent shivers down his spine. A low chuckle resonated in back of his mind along with a whisper of_ "Meet me"_. He winced as the whispers became louder. Naruto grabbed his head as he winced in pain.

"Gaah!" He shouted and fell onto his knees, getting attention of Iruka and the students who haven't left yet.

Iruka slightly worried, quickly walked up to him. "Naruto, what's wrong?" He asked and grabbed the boy's shoulder. Naruto quickly swatted it away and with another cry of pain fell on the floor losing consciousness. Last thing he heard was a faraway shout of "Nii-san!".

* * *

Naruto felt his consciousness coming back. He opened his eyelids and blinked several times. He was staring at a clear dark sky. He looked left and right and deducted that he was in an area he had never seen before.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" He asked turning around. He was in a desert, the sand seemed to be gray and there were few dead trees around. "Great, where the fuck am I?!" He shouted irritated.

After another set of curses he heard a loud laugh. What disturbed him was that the sound of the laughter sounded almost like his own, but much older. He whipped around and noticed that standing in front of him was a blue haired man who had the same face as Naruto - except he had weird eyebrows and a skull like mask on the right side of his face. What made Naruto's curiosity rise over the top, were the exact same markings under his eyes.

The man in front of him looked like in mid-twenties, he was wearing a white jacket with black edges, a pair of white baggy pants with black edges on the bottom and his feet were bare. Attached to his waist was a katana within a black scabbard. The katana had blue strapping on the handle and its silver guard formed an S letter, but without the curves. His jacket was open and exposed his bare chest, showing his muscles, a large scar that was on his abdomen and a hole that went through his stomach.

"Who in the flying fuck are you and where the hell am I?" Naruto rudely asked. The man burst out with a laughter which ticked Naruto off. "Stop laughing already you asshole!"

The man calmed down after few seconds. "Damn, that's the same question I asked when I met him. How right he was when he told me, that you will inherit my personality." The man gave him a toothy grin. "As for whom I am, well, I have no idea if it's biologically or not, but as the damn Sage told me, I'm your father, surprise!"

Naruto just stared at him with a blank expression. "You're fucking kidding me, right?" He didn't deny the option right away. The man in front of him actually could be his father. He had the same jaw-line, light blue hair, light blue eyes and the green markings.

The man shook his head at Naruto's question. "Nope, I'm Grimmjow, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez and Sixth Espada." The now called Grimmjow introduced himself. Naruto raised an eyebrow when he heard the word Espada.

"Name's Naruto." He said bluntly. Grimmjow raised his eyebrow at his surname, or rather lack of it.

"Just Naruto?"

The blonde nodded. "I'd say Namikaze, but I don't consider myself as their son." He added.

Grimmjow scratched back of his head in a thought. "Well, that was what I expected." Grimmjow again chuckled, the skull on his cheek opening and closing with each movement of his jaw.

"Mind telling me where are we?" Naruto said irritated. "And why the hell do you consider yourself as my father?"

"Huh, long story short. I died in a battle, god of your world - some Sage of Six Paths as he called himself - met me and gave me an offer I couldn't refuse." He stopped and cursed under his breath, still remembering the threat of misery that would last for eternity. "After some talk he transferred my soul into you and thus changed majority of your DNA, making me your father. Funny isn't it?"

Naruto eyed him for a few moments. "And you think that I'll believe you?" He asked and Grimmjow nodded with a grin. Naruto groaned and looked to his left. "At least you're more fun than Minato, you don't hesitate to curse." He grumbled, earning another burst of laughter from Grimmjow.

After they sat a minute or two in silence, Naruto spoke up. "Uh... dad?" He asked. Grimmjow instantly looked at the boy, somehow feeling a tingle of happiness. "Can I... use your surname Jaegerjaquez?"

Grimmjow's surname sounded bad-ass. At least that was what Naruto thought. He disliked being a Namikaze and now he knew the reason. He never was a Namikaze. In front of him standing was the closest person to him, his true father.

Grimmjow gave him a toothy grin. "Not a problem, brat."

Naruto pouted. "Don't call me brat!" He shouted and made Grimmjow chuckle once again.

Naruto ignored his father's laugh and looked around him. They were in a large gray desert with sky that was dark with a moon. "Deducting from what you said... this is my... soul? It's plain."

Grimmjow stopped laughing. "Right, this is your soulscape. Although the reason it looks like that is me. I changed it, so it looks like the place I came from." He explained, and then remembered something. "Follow me, I have something for you." He said and inwardly added. _'Although, I have no fucking idea what it is.'_

Naruto nodded and followed the person that supposedly was his father. After five minutes of walking, they came upon a small white block with a scroll on top of it. It was a two feet long scroll with blue flame markings on the bottom and green lightning markings on the top. Grimmjow grabbed it and tossed it to Naruto who caught it easily.

"I have no fucking idea what it is as I don't know jack shit about your world. Enlighten me maybe?" Grimmjow said with annoyed voice, whispering the last sentence under his breath, which didn't go unnoticed by Naruto.

Naruto inspected the scroll and opened it. "It's a summoning contract..." He muttered. Grimmjow looked at it with interest.

"How do you know that?"

Naruto rolled his eyes and muttered 'Idiot', which earned him a punch on top of his head. He rubbed his scalp and explained how he knew about the summoning contracts. "Jiraiya is in possession of a summoning scroll, though, his is larger and has red flame markings on it. Akiho is supposed to be the next bearer of it." He stopped when he saw the questioning look on Grimmjow's face. Naruto was about to insult him once again but decided not to. That punch hurt. "That pervert Jiraiya is my godfather and Akiho is my sister, at least I know that she's a sister from mother's side. Anyways, a summoning scroll allows the user to summon an animal to aid him in battle. Jiraiya's contract let's him summon toads."

Grimmjow nodded and asked. "You know how to use it?"

"I know how to sign it, but I don't know the hand-seals for summoning technique, Jiraiya wanted me to sign his contract, but I denied. I'll have to ask someone in Konoha about it..." He sighed and bit his thumb, allowing the blood to seep out. After enough blood flowed out of the wound, he wrote his name and added his new surname. _'Naruto Jaegerjaquez... I like it.' _He thought and rolled the scroll.

"Alright, time for your training regime." Grimmjow said with a grim smirk on his face that didn't go unnoticed by Naruto, who knew that he was screwed. "When you're awake, you will start doing psychical exercises to increase your strength and speed. I will be instructing you when you do. When you are asleep, you will come here and we will begin your Arrancar training. And keep in mind that I will beat you to the fucking ground." He finished with a grin as Naruto shivered.

Naruto thought about the situation for a brief moment. "What's an Arrancar?" He asked curiously, had it something to do with his father's hole in stomach and the scull mask?

Grimmjow grinned and looked up to the sky. "I'll tell you later brat, you're waking up, find what this scroll does. Ja ne!" He shouted. Before Naruto could say something his vision went blurry and closed his eyes.

* * *

When Naruto opened his eyes, he saw the white wall of a hospital room. He looked around and saw three persons standing next to the bed he was laying on. His ex-father, his mother and his sister were all looking worried about him.

"Naruto-chan, how are you feeling?" asked Kushina, worried about her son's condition. The doctors thankfully haven't diagnosed anything unusual or dangerous for his health. Still, fainting like he did in the academy wasn't normal.

Naruto looked at them, glared at Minato and then sat up. He was clothed in the hospital gown. "Where are my clothes? I'm leaving." He said harshly. Naruto already wanted to go as far away from Minato as possible.

Minato frowned at Naruto's rude tone. "Naruto, you just woke up, you can't lea-"

"Where are my fucking clothes?!" Naruto interrupted, startling the Namikaze family. Minato wanted to accuse and punish him for his language, but Kushina grabbed his arm tightly. He looked at her and saw Kushina shook her head. He growled and motioned to the dresser. Kushina dragged him and Akiho out of the room to give their son some privacy.

As soon as they left, Naruto got out of the bed and opened the dresser. There, nicely fondled were his clothes. A simple black T-shirt, pair of navy blue pants that reached to his knees, pair of black shoes and a dark blue jacket. He quickly changed into his clothes and walked out of the door. In the hallway waiting was his family. He inwardly groaned and walked down the hallway ignoring his parents who stood there with sobbing Akiho, watching him go pass them.

"Nii-san..." The auburn girl sobbed. She always wanted to get closer to her brother. She didn't understand why he behaved like that. Always ignored, rarely spoke with them. Even when her father wanted to teach Naruto his own technique - Rasengan - he denied!

Kushina sighed and kneeled to the girl and gave her a hug. "What is wrong with him? Even if he ignored us, he never was so hostile..." Minato said to himself, before he pardoned his family as he needed to finish his paperwork at his office.

Akiho stopped sobbing and let go of her mother. Kushina smiled softly at her daughter. "Aki-chan, you still have your classes. Off you go to the academy!" She laughed when Akiho nodded and ran down the hallway and out of the hospital.

* * *

Naruto wandered through the streets, with no intentions of going back to the academy. Right now he was looking after a certain person and couldn't help but wonder where he is. _'Where the fuck might that pervert be... bingo!' _He snapped his fingers and changed his direction, now lazily walking to the hot springs.

After half an hour of walk, Naruto arrived at the hot springs. He walked inside, without the need to pay, because he was the Hokage's son - or at least, the villagers thought so.

"Now where is he..." He said to himself, and not a second after he heard a painful groan from nearby bushes. Naruto rolled his eye, walked up to the bush and kicked it, earning another groan of pain and a shaky sound of 'G-Go away!'

He rolled his eyes and brought his arm into the bush and dragged the person out of it. It was a man in his late forties or early fifties, white spiky hair, red jacket, green pants, shit load of bruises, cuts and a... pole shoved up his ass? Naruto face-palmed at the sight and plucked the pole out of the miserable man.

The man's name was Jiraiya of the Sannin, Toad Sage and self-called Super Pervert. Despite his shameful hobby of peeping on women in hot springs, noting the information down as his 'research' and having a large tendency of getting beat up, he was a very powerful individual. He also was the teacher of Minato Namikaze, and the second most powerful person in Konoha, a famous person indeed.

Jiraiya groaned and shakily stood up. "I thought I would never move again, thanks a lot brat." Naruto got a tick mark on his forehead. _'What the hell is with everyone calling me a brat?!'_

"Listen here pervert, I need your help." Naruto told him. Jiraiya looked down at his savior and his eyes widened in pleasant surprise.

"Oh, it's you Naruto! How have you been?" He grinned. "And what do you need help with?"

"I've been better, what are the hand-seals for summoning?" Naruto asked him.

The pervert got a wide grin on his face. "Ho, ho! You finally agreed to sign the Toad's contract, took you long enough!" Jiraiya laughed and patted Naruto on his back.

Naruto groaned at the Sannin's stupidity. "I didn't. I just need the seals." Jiraiya instantly stopped laughing and groaned.

"That's a shame... although I have no idea why would you need its hand seals down. You bite down on your thumb and then do those seals." he muttered and showed him the seals, boar, dog, bird, monkey and finished with ram seal "Then you push your chakra out and simply slam your palm down on the ground and let the ninjutsu do its magic." He explained.

Several minutes later Naruto had them down. "Why did you need them?" Jiraiya asked Naruto. He was curious, the brat was hiding something and he would find out what.

Naruto gave him a toothy grin, just like Grimmjow did. "They might come in handy. See ya pervert!" Naruto said and rushed off to nearby training ground. Unfortunately for him, Jiraiya knew that the training grounds were in the direction Naruto ran off.

Without another thought he placed an invisibility genjutsu on himself and trailed the blue haired boy.

* * *

Several minutes later, Naruto entered the training ground. It was an old abandoned training ground, not used due to it being immensely damaged. He walked into the middle of the grounds and bit his thumb. He ran through the seals and channeled his chakra. Naruto slammed his palm down on the ground and shouted. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

A large poof of smoke appeared, and once it cleared out, Naruto's jaw unhinged itself. In front of himself was a human sized panther. It had black fur with blue stripe on its back. The eyes of the animal were yellow and were piercing Naruto with its glare. The panther's tail was whipping malevolently **"Finally, took you long enough!"** The panther growled with rather feminine voice.

_'That's... unexpected' _Naruto heard a voice in his head and instantly recognized it as Grimmjow's voice.

"I didn't know there was a summoning contract for panthers..." Naruto said to himself, inwardly agreeing with Grimmjow. "...and what the hell do you mean 'long enough'?" Naruto asked. The panther grinned with an all too familiar toothy grin.

**"We've been waiting nine years for you to summon us after the panther contract was created by... you know who, or if you don't then I'll tell you later. I won't tell you now as there are ears everywhere." **The panther looked to the corner of the clearing where Jiraiya stood with his invisibility cloak active.

_'How the hell did it noticed me?' _Jiraiya thought worriedly. _'Shit, I have to tell Minato about it!'_ He thought and disappeared with the use of a shunshin, a technique available for chunins and higher that increased user's movement speed for brief moment, comfortable for traveling, but not handy in battle.

**"Anyways, my name is Aoshima, I was chosen to be the first one to be summoned by you to greet you. Give me your arm" **The now called Aoshima ordered.

"Why for?" Naruto asked confused. Was she going to bite it off?

Aoshima growled slightly. **"I'll mark you, so you'll be marked as one of us. This way, the other panthers you summon will recognize that you are you. Also, you will be able to understand our feline speech." **She explained. Naruto nodded and reached out his arm. The panther moved closer and bit it lightly above his elbow. Naruto winced slightly at the pain and saw black ink seep out of her fangs into his arm. Aoshima removed her jaw and the ink that was in his wound started to swirl. It formed a head of a black panther with green eyes, with its jaw wide open revealing the white fangs.

Naruto admired the tattoo on his arm. It truly was a beautiful piece of art. "Whoa..." he muttered, gazing at the mark.

The panther chuckled. **"It works as storage seal as well, just place anything on top of it and it will be sealed, to unseal it just grate your fingers over it. I have to go now and tell everyone that you summoned me. But keep it in mind. Other panthers might not be as trusty as me, and they might give you hard-time unless you prove yourself. See ya kitten!" **She chuckled before poofing from the existence.

Naruto got a tick mark on his head while Grimmjow was howling with laughter. _'What the hell! First brat and now kitten! I have a fucking name! And you shut your laughing!'_ He shouted to Grimmjow who just ignored him and kept laughing.

After few minutes of the uncontrollable laughter, Grimmjow calmed himself down. _'Oh hell, I needed that laugh... now brat. Run fifteen laps around the field, then do eighty pushups and sit ups, and when you're done take a five minute break and start over. Double time!'_ He shouted and Naruto stood up and was about to grumble about impossible training regiments, but he recalled Maito Gai when he saw him and his ridiculous training.

He sighed and started running laps, cursing Grimmjow for this. _'Shut up and run or I'll kick your ass when you come here at night!' _Grimmjow shouted.

"Fuck you for that."

_'Feelings mutual, kitten!'_ Grimmjow said and laughed once again.

* * *

Nine hours and several hundred curses later, a completely sore Naruto walked into the house where the Namikaze family was housed. Though, it was rather a large mansion than a house.

He was completely dirty and groaned when Grimmjow reminded him of the training this night. Naruto headed into the bathroom, but was stopped by angry Minato and Kushina who was worried.

"Naruto, you are three hours late and Jiraiya told me about something very interesting today... explain yourself!" Minato shouted. He was getting pissed by the boy's attitude.

"I'm late because I was training, and what did that pervert told you?" He grumbled as he walked towards the bathroom doors, taking off his t-shirt in progress.

Kushina gasped when she noticed the marking on his arm. She motioned it to Minato who nodded. The blonde Hokage grabbed Naruto by his shoulder and pinned him to the wall. Naruto was already looking at him with furious eyes. "Jiraiya told me you asked him for hand-seals of the summoning technique, and that you summoned a panther. And you got yourself a tattoo! Are you mad?! Explain yourself right now!" Minato shouted.

Naruto growled and pushed Minato off him. "The panthers are my summons. How I got the summoning contract is none of your damn business and the mark on my arm is a seal you moron, you consider yourself a seal master and you can't detect a simple storage seal?" Naruto mocked him. He knew though that the marking wasn't just a simple seal. It was very complex.

Kushina was fuming. "Watch your mouth! You won't be speaking like that in this house!" She shouted, Minato agreed with her. None of them noticed that Akiho stood in the doors behind them, listening closely. They didn't, but Naruto did. He looked at her and noticed that she was sad about what was happening.

"Fine! Then I won't curse in this fucking house as I won't be here anyways!" Naruto shouted, pushed Minato to the side and walked out through the main entrance, leaving angry Minato and Kushina and sad Akiho behind him.

After several minutes Minato wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Who did he get this attitude from? If it wasn't for him being born together with Aki-chan I would swear he isn't my son-GHACK!" Minato yelled as Kushina stepped on his foot.

"Even if he behaves like that, you have no rights to say that!" She shouted and pulled him by his ear. "Bedroom, now! I have to blow off some steam on someone and you are the one I'm talking about!"

Akiho blushed when she saw the scene and quickly ran back to her room, thinking about her brother and what her father had said.

* * *

**Here you go, I corrected some grammatical errors and stuff. The pairing is already decided - it will be only one girl, and she won't be from Konoha.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone! Sorry that it took so long, but**** here it goes!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor Bleach.**

**Revisited: 29.01.13**

* * *

Naruto sighed as he walked through Konoha's park. His father got on his nerves really badly tonight and he wanted just to take a nap. After their argument, Naruto left the mansion and went to the park. Since it was early summer he had no problem with sleeping outside on a tree, _'Just few more years and I'll be on my own' _Naruto thought with another sigh. After he officially becomes a ninja of Konohagakure no sato, he would be getting payment for missions and it would be only matter of time before his team starts the C-ranked missions.

Naruto noticed a rather comfortable enough tree in the park and decided to occupy it. He quickly climbed on top of it and found a rather comfortable branch. He lay down, closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep. After several minutes, Naruto felt a cold breeze on his face. He opened his eyes to the familiar sight of an endless desert - his soulscape. Grimmjow was sitting before Naruto with a smirk on his face.

Naruto did a barely noticeable smile and sat down, waiting for Grimmjow to begin. The older male took a slight inhale and begun. "Since you're finally here, I'll explain what I will be teaching you. Since I don't know jack shit about chakra, I will train you in Zanjutsu and hand-to-hand combat." He said and stood up, he motioned Naruto to do the same and the younger boy complied. "There are some interesting techniques I want to teach you, but to use them you need to learn how to use Reiryoku."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Reiryoku?" He asked with curiosity in his voice.

Grimmjow nodded. "Reiryoku is the spiritual energy of your soul. Unlocking it without drastic measures would be hard as hell, so we'll use a 'bit more' brutal way." Grimmjow's grin widened, sending shivers down Naruto's spine._ 'I'm so fucked.'_

Grimmjow removed the light blue scabbard that contained his katana from his waist and threw it to Naruto who caught it. The boy admired the scabbard for a brief moment before unsheathing the blade. The katana had a light blue handle, its guard resembled a rigid, crooked "S" and the blade was silver. Naruto could feel the power oozing off the sword and looked questioningly at Grimmjow.

Before Naruto could ask him about the sword, Grimmjow extended his arm and in a short blue flash, an exact same copy of the sword appeared in his right hand. "This baby here, is my zanpakuto - Pantera." He said and did a swung the sword from his right side, kicking up the dust. "A zanpakuto is the embodiment of our power. It is created from a part of our soul, the part that has the greatest desire to fight - at least, in Arrancars case." He paused for a brief second to check if Naruto got everything in, and so far the boy sucked everything up like a sponge. "Because of me being located in your soul, you inherited my Zanpakuto, but I will only teach you so much about its abilities until later."

Naruto nodded in understanding. "You mentioned about unlocking my reiryoku in a brutal way... what did you had in your mind?" He asked, but quickly regretted his action when he heard Grimmjow chuckle evilly. The man widened his feet stance and looked Naruto deep in the eyes.

"We'll fight every damn time you get here. In due time you will unlock your reiryoku and at the same time you'll train how to fight, a win-win in my opinion." He said and rushed towards Naruto at high speeds, or that is what Naruto thought, he was still a nine years old academy student. Even if he had some skill with swords, he was nowhere near Grimmjow's level.

Naruto quickly threw the scabbard away and raised his sword to block the incoming attack. The swords collided with brute force that resulted in Naruto being overpowered almost instantly. He stumbled backwards and fell to the ground, grunting from the pain. He looked up to Grimmjow with an angry look. "What the fuck! Are you trying to kill me?!" He shouted with pissed off voice.

"Don't worry about that, _Kitty_." Grimmjow said to which Naruto growled. "You can't die in here. Though, you still will experience pain. But hey! Building up resistance for pain is another benefit!" He laughed and prepared another attack. Naruto slowly stood up and grasped the handle of his sword tightly. "Widen your stance, do the same as I do and bend your knees slightly. You lost balance quickly back then." Grimmjow gave the younger boy tips and advises.

Naruto nodded in thanks and prepared the right stance. As soon as he did, Grimmjow lunged at him clashing his sword with Naruto's, this time however Naruto managed to hold his ground, even if shakily. Grimmjow pressed a bit harder on the sword, spun on his heel and kicked Naruto in his chest.

The boy once again stumbled backwards, coughed up some blood and lunged at the older swordsman, swinging his sword diagonally at Grimmjow, who grinned and dodged the strike by ducking down, and using the boy's open guard to his advantage Grimmjow hit the boy's solar plexus with his fist.

_'He's a quick learner, five minutes ago he didn't even know how to hold the sword correctly, hmph pummeling him to the ground will be fun.' _Grimmjow thought as he countered the stab, knocked Naruto's sword away from him and aimed to cut Naruto's skin on his shoulder, but the boy rolled away and grabbed his sword.

Naruto's torturous training continued for seven more hours. It ended when Grimmjow told him that he is about to wake up. The younger boy woke up with relief. The past eight hours were the most difficult eight hours in his life. Each time Naruto screwed up his feet positioning or did something else wrong, Grimmjow would punish him with an attack that normally would be lethal. The fact that he was ruthless in fight didn't help at all, but Naruto didn't complain. He knew this training will make him stronger over time.

When he woke up, sun was about to rise. It was around six in the morning and he decided to go home and get something to eat before attending to the academy. _'Or maybe... screw it, there is nothing new I can learn in the academy. I already know the henge, bunshin and kawarimi. Why the fuck would I need to sit in the class when I can train? Also I bet the panthers might teach me something interesting.' _He thought and jumped down from the tree. As he landed on the ground he heard a slight thud behind him. Naruto turned around and on the grass was the same katana and scabbard he used in his soulscape.

_'When I gave you the sword back then, it automatically materialized in the outside world.' _Naruto heard Grimmjow speak in his head. Without answer he picked up the blade and attached it to his waist, but paused for a second before leaving.

_'It might attract unnecessary attention if I walked around with it...' _He thought once again before an idea struck him. He snapped his fingers and rolled up his sleeve, revealing the tattoo of a panther with its jaw open. He stared at it for a while before raising the scabbard to the seal. It glowed black for a brief moment before the sword disappeared in the seal.

Naruto noticed that the panther's jaw closed itself, but shrugged it off. _'Now what was I supposed to do... right, food.'_ He thought and his stomach let out a growling sound of agreement.

* * *

Almost three years had passed since Naruto's training under Grimmjow's tutelage begun. He spent every day training his stamina. Pushups, sit ups, squats and several other exercises along with running were his daily routine, six days a week. He would often ditch the academy lessons - much to Kushina's and Minato's dislike - that resulted of Naruto having the worst grades in the academy since he skipped the tests. During his sleep he fought against Grimmjow, learned Grimmjow's hand-to-hand stance - which was incredibly destructive and unpredictable - and over all have fun.

To be completely honest, Naruto loved to fight against Grimmjow. In their fight Naruto would always be injured in some way and almost every fight against Grimmjow was different. The style Naruto learned from Grimmjow made their fights unpredictable, always coming up with unorthodox strikes. Though, the 'style' wasn't really a style. It had no sword stances, but instead, the user had to adapt himself to enemy's style. It was very difficult if you were a slow thinker. Therefore having a balance between being cunning, ruthless, quick, strong, and fearless was vital.

Though, Naruto took it like a fish to the water. By fighting Grimmjow every night for last three years and being cut up on regular basis, Naruto developed a strong pain tolerance. In Grimmjow's opinion that was the most important skill for anyone. What is the point of being powerful if a single wound could shut you down?

His pain tolerance was advanced to the point that if Naruto's limb was to be cut off he would barely flinch. _'Thanks god I can't die in my soulscape, it would be terrible... still, fuck you for doing this!'_ Naruto cursed Grimmjow in his head, and the only response he got back was a mad laugh.

There were two Arrancar techniques Naruto learned after he unlocked his Reiryoku. Sonido and Hierro.

Sonido was a technique similar to shunshin, but more useful in fights. By channeling his Reiryoku to his legs the user could move at astonishing speeds. Its low usage of Reiryoku made it even more useful. Though, Naruto had not mastered it yet, and was nowhere near Grimmjow's level.

As for the Hierro, it was a passive ability every Arrancar used. The user subconsciously channeled his Reiryoku to his skin, hardening until it was as hard as steel. Even if the Hierro was constantly used, the toll on one's Reiryoku was very low.

If Naruto had to be ranked by shinobi means, going full out placed him on at least mid to high chunin level, an amazing feat for twelve years old kid who's about to graduate from the academy.

As for now, Naruto was walking down the street to the academy. He was wearing a dark blue t-shirt, black trousers with bandages wrapped around his ankles, black combat shoes with steel reinforced toes and had a black sleeveless jacket with dark blue outlines that he kept open.

Today was a very important day in Naruto's life. Today was the graduation exam and he was absolutely confident in his abilities. Hell he would have graduated a year or two earlier, if not for the Uchiha massacre.

Several years ago, a young member of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Itachi committed genocide, slaughtering his entire clan - save for his younger brother, Uchiha Sasuke - and later left the Leaf village and became a nuke-nin. No one knew about Itachi's reasons behind the slaughter. Ever since that unusual stunt the last Uchiha who resided in Konoha had completely drowned himself in hatred against his brother and that was obviously because he saw his family murdered at the hands of his own brother. Uchiha Sasuke was of Naruto's age, and was the one of two academy rookies, being slightly behind Naruto's sister, Namikaze Akiho.

That fact sprouted an undying rivalry between Sasuke and Akiho. His shinobi skills were high for an academy student, between high genin and low chunin level. Though, he was a bit arrogant due to the villagers pampering him about being the 'last' Uchiha.

Besides Sasuke, there were three other academy students of Naruto's age worth mentioning. Namely Nara Shikamaru, heir of the Nara clan which was well known for their strategically and quick minds and ability to control shadows to an extent, because of that, most of the Naras were either tacticians or as capture unit. The young Nara heir had jet black hair tied to a spiky ponytail, narrow brown eyes and despite his unenthusiastic attitude, Shikamaru was a hidden genius. His IQ was above 210. Though, he decided not to show it because it was too troublesome and preferred to stay low, at the class' average.

Then there was Aburame Shino, heir of the Aburame clan. There was little known about the Aburame clan since they are very secretive and quiet, the only thing known about that clan is that they use bugs to aid them in battle. Shino was a fair-skinned and tall boy. He had dark bushy brown hair and dark, narrow eyes. Shino wore a regular outfit as the rest of his clan, that consisted of dark sunglasses and a sea-green jacket with a high, upturned collar.

The last person worth mentioning was Namikaze Akiho. She was class' tallest girl with long auburn hair that reached her mid-back, sky blue eyes and yellow, oval earnings. Her outfit consisted of a sleeveless, orange jumpsuit that clung tightly onto her hourglass figure. The area of her abdomen was in addition covered with dark fishnet and the area above her B-cup breasts was bare, with the exception of fishnet that connected her jumpsuit to a silver necklace that resembled a collar. She also wore dark, finger-less gloves that went up to her elbows where they ended with an orange cloth. On her back, strapped was a long, thin white scroll with red edges on both ends and red flame pattern on one of the edges. It was a scroll Akiho had created after she learned the basics of sealing. The scroll contained food and water rations, kunai knives, senbon needles, shurikens and several other important things. The reason she had the scroll with her was as she said "One should be expecting the unexpected" and "Better safe than sorry". Also it was also lighter than a backpack and held more space.

Akiho was by all means a prodigy. Ever since she started attending to the academy, she was undergoing training lessons with her parents. The training resulted in her being calm and collective. She was an adept in fuinjutsu, not a surprise since her parents and godfather were known seal masters. She knew several Futon techniques she learned from her father, and due to her being Kyuubi's jinchuriki she had amazing stamina and quick healing abilities - something that came in handy when she trained.

Even if she was a very calm person, not one to be angered, she developed an overprotective bond over her brother. The fact of Naruto being the Hokage's son was not a secret, not by a long shot. Though, some people - mostly academy students - thought of him as a failure. The blue haired boy was the dead last of the academy. The main reason of being so was him not attending to it at all. He showed up on occasions, but that was very rare. However, no one dared to speak a word about it around Akiho, because if the girl caught anyone saying so would beat the person that insulted her brother into a bloody pulp. A trait she definitely inherited from her mother. Even if Naruto did not consider her as family, she had a personal goal - to make Naruto admire her as his sister.

Naruto sighed as he walked through Academy's hall. There were other people in class that he knew would become genins, but would stay genin for a long time. He kicked the classroom's doors open and waltzed in, startling Iruka who was about to hand out papers for the writing part of exams.

Iruka looked at him with slightly surprised expression. "I thought you wouldn't come, Naruto." He muttered and motioned him to take a place.

Naruto merely smiled with a toothy grin. "Wouldn't want to miss the damn exams, right?" He said, then walked past the students and took a seat in the back of the classroom. The class remained quiet not daring to comment and the main reason of that was Akiho, who smiled when she saw that her brother attended to the exam. Though, she was worried about him not passing it.

As soon as Naruto seated himself back in the classroom and behind Shikamaru, Iruka handed out the papers. Naruto scanned the papers and sighed. The written exam that was twenty five page long, with questions about the basics of human anatomy, geography, survival in the wild, tracking, traps, weaponry and brief questions about the village, Hokages, famous shinobis and rules of shinobi system.

Naruto ditched the part about human anatomy as he didn't know shit about it, but the rest was easy enough. He knew a lot about swords, kunais and explosive tags, and he often stayed in the forests overnight to learn survival. Wilderness survival was almost like a second nature to him. He knew how to hunt - as he did often with the summoned panthers -, set up traps and how to track his prey.

The part of the exam about geography, current and recent Hokages and the famous shinobi was easy enough. Though, he skipped few questions in the geography part. He knew about every Konoha's nuke-nin, both dead and alive and about ninjas who were known around the world. He had studied every bingo book he got his hands on. The old saying "Know your enemy" explained enough. Also he didn't want get jumped by an enemy he has no information of. After all, information is power.

After two hours long exam he looked through the papers to see if he missed something. Satisfied enough he went to the first page and wrote down his name - Naruto Jaegerjaquez. Then he waited another half an hour for Iruka to gather the papers. When the scarred man picked Naruto's exam up, he noticed the weird surname and raised his eyebrows, but shrugged it off.

When Iruka gathered all the papers he spoke to the class. "Alright, everyone go meet with Mizuki outside at the Academy's training ground for the second part of the exam while I grade your writing exams, good luck!" He finished with a smile.

Almost everyone rushed from the seats and ran out. Naruto, Shino, Shikamaru, Sasuke and Akiho were the only ones who took their time as there was no need to hurry. Though, Naruto had to wake up the lazy Nara who was asleep. Ignoring a muffled 'troublesome' Naruto walked down and was instantly jumped by Akiho.

The girl looked at him with a bright smile. "Nii-san, how was the exam?" She asked as she walked with Naruto one the out from the classroom.

Naruto turned his head to her and raised an eyebrow. "Why would you care?" He asked with annoyed tone and kept walking.

Akiho stopped in her tracks and looked down saddened. "Because you're my brother..." She whispered quietly, but loud enough for Shikamaru to hear. The lazy boy walked up to Akiho and placed his hand on her shoulder. The girl's head jerked up and turned to Shikamaru, who gave her a small smile, patted her back and walked past her. _'I just hope tou-san will place us on the same team...'_ She thought and ran to the training ground.

When they arrived on the training ground behind the academy, Mizuki, a silver haired chunin stepped forward. "We'll begin with projectile throwing, step forward when I call your name... Aburame Shino!" He shouted and the bug user stepped forward.

The boy grabbed handful of kunais and threw them one after another on the targets, striking eight out of ten. He repeated the exercise three more times and got an average of seven out of ten.

Some people did better than the others. For example Akiho and Sasuke scored an average of nine out of ten, Inuzuka Kiba and Akamichi Choji scored an average five out of ten and Naruto scoring eight point five out of ten, which surprised everyone. Even though some of them had very good scores, the average in the entire class was five out of ten, because of many civilian teens not having proper training outside of academy.

The next part was the taijutsu exam and Naruto couldn't wait for it. That was the part where he would shine. After all, Grimmjow divided his sword and hand-to-hand combat training evenly and the training wasn't easy.

"Namikaze Naruto against Uchiha Sasuke!" Mizuki shouted announcing the first match, snapping Naruto out of his thoughts. He looked towards the Uchiha who had a confident smirk on his face. _'Why the hell is he grinning?'_ Naruto thought and stepped into the sparring ring. They nodded to each other and did the reconciliation seal with their hands, acknowledging that they are fighting as comrades.

Immediately after doing the reconciliation seal, both students fell into their own taijutsu stances. Sasuke fell into the Uchiha's traditional interceptor stance and Naruto into his own 'Panther' stance as he called it. Everyone seemed confused about Naruto's stance, since they haven't seen him using it before. Though, it shouldn't be surprising since he rarely attended to the academy.

Mizuki raised his hand and made a downward slicing motion with it. "Hajime!" He yelled.

Sasuke immediately dashed at high speeds towards Naruto, aiming for his face.

Naruto spun on his left heel dodging the strike and caught Sasuke's wrist, pulled it down and hit him in the chin with his knee. Sasuke stumbled backwards and rubbed his sore chin. Everyone was quiet, even Sasuke's fan girls.

The Uchiha recoiled quickly and blocked a swift kick to his ribs. _'He's hitting so hard!'_ Sasuke thought and leaped backwards dodging another fist. "That's it!" Sasuke shouted and jumped towards Naruto, hitting his left side and using it as leverage, jumping over Naruto's shoulder and elbowing him in his right shoulder blade.

Naruto grunted when the raven haired boy struck his shoulder blade. His Hierro absorbed most of the damage but it was still aching. _'If not for my Hierro the bastard would have dislocated it' _He thought. _'Time to kick it up a notch_'

Sasuke landed on the edge of the ring, perplexed by Naruto's durability _'How is he still standing? That hit should have at least dislocated his shoulder blade'_ He thought and stared at the blue haired boy.

"Alright, I'm done fucking playing!" Naruto shouted and disappeared via Sonido, creating a booming sound of static electricity and appeared in front of Sasuke, gave him a devastating punch to his abdomen that resulted in the satisficing sound of ribs cracking and launched him airborne. Sasuke screamed from pain, but Naruto wasn't done yet as he appeared above his opponent and sky bombed him with his feet aiming for his chest.

When he crashed into the ground where Sasuke was, he created a foot deep crater with Sasuke nowhere in sight. "Shousha, Namikaze Naruto..." Naruto heard Mizuki's voice and turned around to see the entire class wide eyed and Sasuke carried bridal style by Mizuki.

_'That wasn't a jutsu, I haven't felt any chakra in it, that was pure speed!' _Mizuki thought perplexed, for an academy student to move at such speeds was unheard of. Everything he saw was a blur. _'Thank god I managed to catch Sasuke in time or he would be dead!'_

"Naruto, that was reckless, you could have killed him!" Mizuki shouted angrily and turned to the rest of class who had yet to gather their jaws from the ground. "I'm taking Sasuke to the infirmary, you got a half an hour break before we continue." He finished and disappeared with a shunshin.

_'Where did he learn fighting like that?' _Thought shocked Akiho. Even she had problems against Sasuke, and most of their fights would end up in a stalemate. But here she just witnessed how Naruto obliterated him in matter of a minute!

* * *

Back in the Hokage tower, the Yondaime Hokage was watching the taijutsu test with interest. He frowned when he saw Naruto's high speed in action. Next to him with a worried look in her eyes, standing was his wife Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina. They both saw Naruto's skill and got really confused.

They rarely saw him even if they wanted to. The boy would only come to their house for an occasional dinner or to get a set of clean clothes - even then, he would only speak with Kushina or Akiho, never with Minato.

"Do you think someone trained him?" Kushina asked with soft voice. "He wasn't in the academy for the last three months..."

Minato took a deep breath and answered. "I doubt it, Kushi-chan. The ANBU I ordered to keep an eye for him, reported that he was only training his stamina. Like pushups, running and stuff similar to Gai-san's training." They both shuddered when the picture of the green clad Jonin appeared in their heads.

"So where he learned all this?" The red haired beauty spoke. "Maybe his summons taught him this?"

Minato closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat. "Kushina" He began seriously "I know you won't like what I have in mind to do, but we have to find out where he learned all this from and maybe the reason why he... dislikes us."

Kushina knowing her husband for long time knew what he had in mind. "You want a Yamanaka to mind-walk him." She growled. Kushina despised the idea of messing with her son's mind but had to agree.

"He might be under a powerful genjutsu of a sort, I don't know. I just want to make sure he is alright..." Minato answered. "Kushi-chan, please let me do it."

Kushina calmed down and sighed. "Alright, but if something goes wrong, I'll blame you!" She bonked his head earning a low groan.

They both heard a knock on the door. "Come in!" Minato said and frowned when he saw the person come in. An old man stood in the doors frame. He had black, shaggy hair and had his right eye bandaged. He had an x-shaped scar on his chin that he probably got in his youth. He wore a white shirt, with a black robe over the top of it covering from his feet, to just over his shoulder. The robe concealed his right arm which was bandaged.

He slowly walked in and closed the door behind him. "What do you want Danzo?" Minato said and got a small smirk in return which Kushina didn't like at all.

"I want to speak about someone you know... certainly your son..."

* * *

Naruto sat in the shadow of a nearby tree as he watched the clouds while the rest of students fought against each other. No one except Akiho dared to talk with him after his stunt with the Uchiha.

The auburn haired girl walked up to him after she was done with her fight against Inuzuka Kiba, where she emerged victorious but not without a bruise on her left shoulder. Naruto cracked an eye open. "What do you want?" He asked and closed his eye again.

"Just wanted to ask you about something, nii-san." Akiho sat comfortably next to him. "Who taught you how to fight like that?" She began.

Naruto sighed, he wasn't in the mood for today, there was still the ninjutsu part of the exam and Grimmjow was bugging him for a fight. "Listen Akiho, I don't see myself as your brother so quit calling me that. And where I learned to fight like that is none of your damn business." He answered harshly.

Akiho lowered her head down and looked at her feet. "I don't care what you think, you will always be my nii-san... but why do you hate us so much?" She asked with quiet voice. "Ever since I remember, you were hostile against tou-san. Today after the written exam Iruka-sensei told me about what you wrote next to your name... please, you don't plan on leaving our family?" She finished, sobbing out the last part of sentence.

Naruto sighed. "For a top kunoichi and academy's student, you really got a soft side for me, don't you?" He said with a chuckle. "The strongest girl of our generation is such a damn softie!" He laughed, earning the attention of some students who began whispering between themselves.

Naruto stood up and leaned against the tree. "Listen here for once, I do not see myself as part of your family and never will. Your father is not _my_ father, period." He said and started walking away. Few feet away from her he stopped and looked behind his shoulder. "After I graduate, I'm changing my surname, no longer the Naruto Namikaze" He said, making a grimace when he said 'Namikaze' "I'm taking my father's surname instead." He said and walked off to the academy building where the last part of the exam was placed.

Akiho was left stunned and confused, with tears flowing from her eyes. _'What? But tou-san's surname is Namikaze, but he said that my father is not... his... father...' _She thought before getting into a weird conclusion. "WHAT?!" She yelled, startling some of the students. "This is so confusing!"

* * *

Naruto walked through the empty academy hall, heading towards the room where ninjutsu part of the exam would be placed. He noticed a large board on the wall and gave it a glance. _'Huh, written exam results... How do you think I scored?' _Naruto asked Grimmjow.

The man grinned and answered. _'I'd be surprised if you even passed!' _He chuckled loudly.

Naruto deadpanned. "Gee, thanks for believing in me." He muttered and traced down the names with his fingers, stopping at 'N'. _'98 out of 150, enough for me to pass.' _He thought and let himself do a small smile, which quickly disappeared when he noticed a name with highest score possible. _'She scored a clean 150? Bullshit, she was pathetic in the taijutsu part' _He cursed and resumed his walk when he heard footsteps of the other students coming in.

Just as he closed the doors behind him, he heard a banshee cry and shouts of 'I aced it!' or 'Sasuke-kun, look!'. Both Naruto and Grimmjow shuddered when they heard the ear splitting sound. "God damn it." He muttered and looked around to see Iruka sitting on a chair, waiting for the students to arrive.

Iruka narrowed his eyes slightly. He heard Mizuki's report about Sasuke and Naruto. Luckily, a great medic, Senju Tsunade managed to heal his injured quickly and let him continue the exam.

"Since I'm here already, let me take the ninjutsu part already." Naruto said when he walked in front of Iruka.

The scar faced man sighed and rubbed his temples. "Since you're here so soon… I guess no harm in doing that... do the henge." He ordered as he picked a sheet of papers to write down his progress.

Naruto nodded and did three required hand seals, finishing on ram and calmly spoke. "Henge no jutsu"

A poof of smoke appeared and revealed a large, blue furred panther. Iruka raised an eyebrow about the unusual transformation and noted it down. "Alright, I'll throw the book and you will use Kawarimi on it." He said and Naruto dropped the henge and nodded. Iruka picked an interesting orange book and threw it to the other corner of classroom.

While it was in mid-air, Naruto quickly did the required hand seals and substituted himself with the book. "So far so good, now the last part, make two bunshins." He ordered and Naruto once again, nodded.

"As much as this technique is damn useless against an experienced shinobi..." He didn't finish but calmly did three required hand seals, Ram, Snake and Tiger. "Bunshin no jutsu!" He spoke and three doppelgangers of Naruto appeared next to him.

Iruka smiled at his performance. _'Even if he barely had attended to the academy he's way above class' average.'_ He noted it down and walked to a box that was placed on the teacher's desk. He reached to the box, and with a single glance on Naruto he picked out a hitai-ate with blue clothing. He threw it to Naruto and said. "Congratulation Naruto, you're officially Konoha's shinobi!" He smiled and extended his hand, which Naruto took after a second. "Tomorrow at eight am are the team selections, don't be late... again." He joked.

Naruto nodded. "Thanks pal." He said and with that, he left the classroom twirling the headband with his finger. _'That wasn't as bad as I thought'_

_'Nah, now get in here, I'm bored!'_ Grimmjow yelled while cracking his knuckles.

Naruto sweat dropped. _'Calm your horses man, I'm not going anywhere.' _He thought and tied his headband on his left thigh.

* * *

Naruto sat down under a tree and closed his eyes, waiting for Grimmjow to pull him into his soulscape, but before it happened someone appeared with a shunshin next to him. His eyes opened to see an ANBU ninja with boar mask.

"Hokage-sama requests your immediate presence in his office." He said and ignored the annoyed groan that escaped Naruto's mouth along with a curse. As soon as Naruto stood up he grabbed the blue haired boy's shoulder and shunshined together with him into the Hokage's office.

They both appeared in the office. There were several people and Naruto could recognize several of them. Minato, Kushina, Jiraiya and a man he didn't know.

He had long blond hair that reached into his back, which he wore spiky on top and ending in a long ponytail blue-green eyes and strong facial features, which included a well-defined jaw line. He was wearing standard flak jacket over a black outfit, complete with hand-guards, forehead protector with Konoha's symbol and a sleeveless red haori.

Naruto stood unfazed by the unexpected shunshin and swiped the ANBU's arm off his shoulder. "What do you want?" He growled at the blonde kage who tried his best to ignore the boy's disrespect.

"We want to check something if everything is... right with you, sit down. Now." He ordered seriously. Naruto narrowed his eyes but slowly complied. _'I don't like it at all, the way he and the other one look at me fucking worries me.' _He thought.

_'No worries, kitty' _Grimmjow answered while Naruto rolled his eyes. _'Remember about the safe lock from your seal.'_

That eased Naruto down, knowing that he was safe. Though, what do they want with him? "Inoichi, you can begin." He heard Minato speak and the blonde haired jonin did an unknown hand sign.

"Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Was the last thing he heard before he blacked out. Jiraiya caught him before he fell from the chair while Minato caught the limp body of Inoichi.

"Now we only need to wait." Minato said as he placed Inoichi on the floor.

* * *

**In Naruto's soulscape.**

"Ugh, what the fuck did hit me - again?" Naruto groaned as he stood up to the familiar sight of his soulscape. He turned around when he heard a snarl and found Grimmjow standing there, with a serious face.

"That blonde fucker did something to you and entered your mind. He would be looking through your memories right now." Grimmjow said and folded his arms.

Naruto's eyes widened. "What! We have to stop him!" He turned around to run in a random direction, but stopped. "How do I get there...?" He asked sheepishly making Grimmjow slap his face.

"No worries brat, I blocked off your memories as soon as he entered, I think he will either leave after he finds nothing, or he will attempt to break into your memories - and fail doing so." He explained.

"You sure?"

Grimmjow groaned. "Oh have some fucking faith in me kiddo! Now get over here and give me the fight I was waiting for the WHOLE day today!" He shouted and used a sonido to appear in front of Naruto, who ducked under a fist but got smashed in his stomach by Grimmjow's knee. "Now that felt good."

Naruto stumbled backwards and wiped the blood that gathered in the corners of his mouth. "What if he enters my soulscape?" He asked and resealed his sword from the tattoo on his arm. He unsheathed it and dashed to Grimmjow, taking him by surprise.

Grimmjow quickly recoiled though, and used his Hierro to block the strike with his skin. The exact same replica of the blade appeared in his hand and clashed his sword with Naruto's, producing sparks when the steel met. "It's impossible for him to do, except me, you and Pantera, nobody can show up here." He assured the boy before overpowering him by pure strength. "Your feet are in right stance even during pressure, you're getting better, brat." Grimmjow praised the boy who smiled, but his smile disappeared when he saw Grimmjow's fist glow red. "But you're still nowhere on my level yet!" He shouted, launching a Cero.

Naruto's eyes widened before he braced himself for the pain. He could somewhat endure the pain of his limb being blown off, but his entire body being burned down _was_ painful. However, before the flash engulfed him, he felt something dragging him away.

A feeling similar to that of resurfacing from underwater washed over him, and the surroundings disappeared, revealing the Hokage's office. He looked around, panting slightly and heard the familiar voice of Grimmjow. _'That's cheating brat! Get back here!'_

"Oh shut up you prick." He thought out loud, getting confused looks from the people present in the room. "What?"

Jiraiya shook his head. _'This boy...'_

"Am I free to go?" He asked, getting a nod from Minato. He stood up and turned to the door, but before he left he looked behind his shoulder. "And next time, tell me before you try to fuck with my memories." He said and left the room.

Kushina shook her head. "That was quick Inoichi-san. So what did you find?" She turned to the blonde mind-walker.

Inoichi sighed. "Nothing."

"What?" Everyone asked perplexed.

"I was able to enter his mind and walk freely, but..." He begun, sweat appeared on his forehead. "His memories were locked away, and Naruto wasn't there." He finished, trembling slightly about the sight he saw in his mind.

Minato's, Jiraiya's and Kushina's eyes widened. "W-What? He has his memories sealed? And what do you mean he was not there?" Jiraiya asked.

Inoichi shook his head. "No, his memories aren't sealed away. His whole memory section was... barricaded. When I enter one's mind, their memories appear as a huge library. But the door to said library was barricaded. Either he kept his consciousness aware and locked his memories, or locked them before. I don't know. But what worries me is that he wasn't there." Inoichi explained.

Minato made a thinking pose, before coming up with a theory. "The only other place he could be in, was his soulscape. Whenever Akiho talks with Kyuubi, they are in their soulscape. But to be able to enter his soul he is required to have another entity... sealed… in it..." His eyes widened. "But it is impossible!" He flipped out.

Kushina walked behind Minato and hugged him. "I'll talk with Naruto-kun and ask him about it... you know I'm the only one in our family he talks with." She said.

"Alright, as much as I'd love to see you two cuddle here, I have my spy network to keep tabs on, see ya!" The white haired pervert shouted and jumped through the window.

Inoichi chuckled at the Toad Sennin's antics. "I have my shop to handle too, so I'd be off Hokage-sama." Inoichi said and bowed, before using the door to leave.

"Are you sure he'll talk?" Minato asked Kushina. He was worried about his son and wanted to find out what the hell is going on with him. Kushina sighed and felt a tear coming from her eye.

"I don't know... I just want my baby boy come back to us... Akiho wants her brother back and you want your son to like you!" She broke down into tears.

* * *

Naruto entered the academy room to be assigned to his genin team. Yesterdays events annoyed him. First the Yamanaka's try to read his memories, then getting denied when he asked for his surname to be changed. He had been in the Konoha's Civil Registry and requested his surname to be changed, since he was officially a Konoha's shinobi and therefore an adult.

Unfortunately, the Konoha's Civil Registry could only handle the civilians. If he wanted his surname changed as a shinobi, he had to take it with the Hokage himself.

_'Guess I'll do it sometime later._' He thought as he leaned against the wall. Naruto scanned over the loud class and tried to ignore the two banshees screaming about who will sit next to Sasuke. _'Dear god, there are two fucking seats around him that are free!' _He groaned.

Everyone stopped their chatting when they heard Iruka enter the room. The scarred chunin did a sad smile as the thought about this class leaving, and getting a new one. He took a deep breath and spoke up. "Alright everyone! Today is the day you begin your journey as the Konoha's shinobi. The Shinobi world is truly dangerous, so don't drop your guard! But there is one last thing I want to tell you before you leave." He paused when he saw that the entire class was dead quiet you could hear a pin drop on the ground. His face turned serious and resumed his speech. "I wasn't supposed to tell you that since I'm not allowed to tell it to the academy students, but since you're not academy students anymore I suppose I can loop around that rule." He said with a chuckle. "The job of a shinobi is not an easy one, there is no glory waiting for any of you. I'm sorry to say that, but there is large chance you'll die out in the battlefield before you even reach rank of a chunin or jonin.

As I said, there is no glory waiting for you, the most important rule of a shinobi is to work for the village from the shadows, die in the shadows and probably not be remembered. Of course there are some ninjas known for their feats, but they acquired that fame with bloody path. Let's take our Hokage-sama as a prime example, he's known for his technique and for killing the entire Iwa-nin squad that consisted of over one thousand shinobis under a minute." Several gasps were heard, that wasn't what they learned in the academy!

Iruka cleared his throat. "Remember, danger and enemies lurk in the shadows, but you will be our village's shadow that protects it. Now is the last chance for you to decide if you want to stay a shadow, or leave and live somewhat peaceful life, your choice." He stopped, waiting for the reaction. Three students shakily stood up and removed their headbands, said a quiet apology and left the room. "Now if that is everything, let's get onto the team assignments!"

Naruto closed his eyes, waiting for his name to be called. _'That was a good speech he said, didn't he?' _Naruto heard Grimmjow say.

_'Agree, that was both inspiring and depressing.'_

"Team Seven consists of Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Namikaze Akiho, your jonin sensei is Hatake Kakashi." Iruka said. Naruto gave himself a small smile. _'So the Hokage didn't place me with her, most curious.'_ He thought

Meanwhile, Sakura was incredibly happy to be with Sasuke, but Iruka's speech depressed her. She knew that she wasn't taking her training seriously. _'Is he right? If I'm so weak I'll die on my first mission outside the village...'_ She thought.

Akiho was happy that she was teamed up with her rival, but was also saddened about the fact that her father didn't place her with Naruto. _'I wonder who will he placed with, Hinata seems somehow interested in him, but she's more of a tracker while Naruto is a fighter...'_

"Team Eight, Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino, your jonin sensei is Yuuhi Kurenai." Iruka declared.

"Team Nine is still in rotation from previous year, Team Ten consists of Akimichi Choji, Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino." Iruka said, but before he could continue Shikamaru asked an interesting question.

"Iruka-sensei, you called out everyone here so far except Naruto, what about him?" Shikamaru asked, getting a nod of agreement from rest of the classroom.

Iruka sighed. "I was getting into that right now. Naruto got an interesting team I have to say. He will be placed with two other genins who lost their team mate and sensei last year." He said getting some shocked reactions from people. "Alright Naruto, your teammates are Hasu Mizuko and Hebun Tenrai, your jonin sensei is..." He stopped for a second, not believing his eyes. "Shimura Danzo?" He said, asking no one in particular.

Naruto frowned. He knew the old war-hawk. _'Now that is a damn surprise, how did he convince Minato to make him my sensei?' _He thought.

Grimmjow was slightly surprised as well. _'I have no idea, but you'd better watch your back with him around.'_ Naruto inwardly nodded and saw the door to the room open, revealing several jonin shinobi enter. They scavenged their genins and left, leaving the room only with Naruto, Team Seven and Iruka who sighed and left.

After several minutes of waiting the door opened once more, revealing an old man with two people trailing behind him. The old man was obviously Danzo, and as he supposed the other two were his teammates.

The first was a pale girl with long white hair that reached past her shoulder blades, three scars on her cheek and deep brown eyes that seemed to look out for the danger. She was wearing plain dark gray ANBU outfit with full equipment. She was around Naruto's height, but seemed tad older than him. She was probably fourteen or thirteen. Her eyes narrowed when she spotted Naruto.

_'Guess she doesn't like me right away.'_ Naruto thought and took in details of the third person.

He was a tall, muscular boy with short brown hair and green eyes. He was a little bulky, but his posture didn't show it. He was wearing the same outfit Mizuko did, plain dark gray ANBU outfit with same equipment the girl had, plus a tanto on his back. The interesting detail about him was him missing half of the ring finger on his right hand.

Danzo gave Naruto a slight smile, thinking about how the talk with Minato went...

_Flashback_

_"What do you want with my son?" Minato spoke angrily, both he and Kushina were indifferent against the old war-hawk, but when it came to his family matters he would stand before them. Danzo's presence in Konoha was crucial for the village's safety. The 'Root' division was unofficial and illegal during the Sandaime's reign as the old monkey was a pacifist who was disgusted by Root's methods, but one of the first larger moves Minato did after he took the Hokage's mantle was 'reviving' the Root division. It was still running as an illegal division during Hiruzen's reign but Minato, for the lack of better word, unofficially legalized the division improving his relation with Danzo._

_He had to admit that the Root was better than his ANBU - Though they were mindless drones, their capabilities were really worth the gamble and if something that endangered the village popped out, the Root would discretely take care of it. They already were hot on Orochimaru's heels, crippling the snake's spy-net and sabotaging his bases._

_Yes, having Danzo as an ally was risky, but that risk was worth the gamble._

_The bandaged man smirked. "An offer if you are willing to hear me out." He said and Minato hesitantly nodded. "I saw the report about your sons... show off in the academy and I am willing to help him reach his potential."_

_"Like hell I will let you touch my son!" Kushina shouted and slammed her fist into the table, cracking it slightly. "He won't become another one of your drones, Danzo!" She growled and opened her mouth to continue her rant when Minato raised his hand to stop her._

_"Kushina, let us hear him out first" He said and turned back to Danzo. "You aren't planning on making him one of your Root operatives, do you?"_

_Danzo shook his head. "No Minato-san, I just merely want to help him reach his true potential. Trust me, I know you won't let me train Akiho because she is the Jinchuuriki, but that isn't the matter with young Naruto. I see great potential in him, almost as large as yours or Akiho's if not greater." He began and reached under his jacket, pulling out a thick sheet of documents. He handed them to Minato who looked through them. "I know he... dislikes you and your family. People went rogue for smaller reasons and I want to make sure he stays loyal to Konoha. You wouldn't want your son to run around as an A or S-ranked nuke-nin, do you?"_

_Minato's frown grew even bigger. The documents held the pictures of Naruto training, conversing with his summons and had detailed information about what he did in the last four years. "You kept close tabs on him." That wasn't a question, but a state of fact to which Danzo nodded._

_Kushina was barely restricting herself from killing Danzo on the spot for stalking her son like that! "Get to the point already! What do you want with Naruto!?" She yelled, earning a chuckle from Danzo._

_"Easy now Kushina-san. I have just told you I only want to help him reach his potential, who will be teaching him if not me? Jiraiya? He's too busy with his espionage. You or Minato? Your daughter needs your help if she wants to control the Kyuubi. You were its previous jinchuuriki and Minato is busy being the Hokage. Kakashi? Don't make me laugh, he is too obsessed with the last Uchiha because of his late teammate. I will be able to bring out the real shinobi from him, and if I can't directly train him, my operatives will most likely do it instead. So what is your answer?" Danzo finished bringing out the point._

_Minato had to agree with his thinking, there were no good trainers for Naruto. Sure, he could be trained by likes like Yugao Uzuki, Hayate Gekko or someone else, but their skills weren't enough to train him. He personally knew Naruto was a violet and reckless person - just look back at his sparring with the Uchiha, he nearly killed him if not for the instructor's intervene._

_He took a deep breath. "You bring out the point. I'll agree to that, but under some conditions." Minato said and he heard Kushina huff. Danzo nodded, motioning him to continue. "You will not break him and rid him of his emotions like you do with your operatives. I will be getting weekly reports on his progress while anything unusual will be reported instantly. I will also choose two other genins for his squad that I believe will benefit of your training, and they won't take the chunnin exams this year, and absolutely you will not shape him into a tool." He finished._

_When he mentioned about two other genins, Danzo's curiosity grew - though, he suspected who the chosen genins were. "Deal" He said with a smile, exchanging hand with Minato._

_"Why wouldn't you let them take the exams this year?" Kushina asked perplexed._

_Before Minato would answer, a voice cut them off. "Both Danzo and Minato know about a certain snake that is waiting in the grass." They turned to the corner of the room to see a white haired man drop his camouflage technique._

_"Jiraiya-sensei! What are you doing here?" Minato asked slightly shocked. He put his guard down while he spoke with Danzo and did not sense Jiraiya appear in the room._

_Jiraiya gave him a narrowed look. "Gaki, as much as I dislike what you plan on doing with your son, the war-hawk got a point. My spies really got their hands full this month." He said and he turned to Kushina who was still confused about the condition of not letting her son take the chunin exams. "Orochimaru plans on invading Konoha during the chunin exams, and we all know how interested he is in your son."_

_Kushina's eyes widened when she remembered the incident that happened just few weeks after Naruto's birth. Orochimaru's shinobi tried to kidnap Naruto - probably for his twisted experiments._

_"The reason I am here is about much more grave situation." Jiraiya begun with a grim face. "Orochimaru, he..."_

_Flashback end_

"Naruto, met us on the roof in five minutes. Don't be late." Danzo spoke and both he, Mizuko and Tenrai disappeared with a shunshin.

_'They know the shunshin already? I bet they are at least chunin level...' _Naruto thought before he walked out through the window.

* * *

**This one checked over too, I'm getting to the next one right now and then I'm back to writing this damn story, friggin' fanfiction is too addictive! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello there! Thank for your amazing support! So many reviews... I wanted to thankt "The Golden Boy" especially for his really motivating reviews. Thanks!**

**Onward with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bleach!**

**Revisited: 29.01.2013**

* * *

Naruto entered the roof where his newly appointed sensei and teammates were waiting for him. He inwardly groaned when he saw the white haired girl pierce him with her eyes. He rolled his eyes and walked up to them.

Danzo looked at each person's facial expressions and read their thoughts. Mizuko was careful, always looking out for danger. _'She really took their deaths harshly' _the war-hawk thought. His eyes traveled to the green-eyed boy. _'He's hiding it much better'_

Naruto on the other hand was excited. The boy eyed his teammates and then turned to Danzo."So, I'm here, are we starting or we wait here until we die of old age?" The blue haired boy said. Both Mizuko and Tenrai flinched slightly, which didn't go unnoticed by Danzo or Naruto. _'They don't like hearing about death' _He thought and saw the three diagonal scars on Mizuko's cheek. _'I can't help but wonder how she got these scars'._

They heard Danzo clear his throat. "Let's begin with some introductions and questions about each other, Tenrai-san, can you begin?" He asked to which the brown haired boy nodded. He cleared his throat and began with low tone.

"My name is Hebun Tenrai and I'm fourteen years old. My specialization is taijutsu and kenjutsu, I'm excelled with setting traps as well, that's all you need to know." He said and nodded his head to his white-haired team mate, Mizuko.

She closed her eyes and spoke. "I'm Hasu Mizuko and I'm thirteen, my specialization is genjutsu, tracking and ninjutsu." She finished and opened her brown eyes. "Your turn, Namikaze." She said and earned a frown and a slight growl from Naruto that she shrugged off.

"Don't you 'Namikaze' me, _Snowflake_." He scoffed and earned a loud growl from Mizuko and a bark of laughter from Tenrai. Mizuko folded her arms and huffed.

"Don't you dare call me that!" She shouted with annoyed voice.

"Yeah, whatever." Naruto rolled his eyes at her temper. "Names Jaegerjaquez Naruto, I'm twelve and I specialize in kenjutsu and taijutsu. I know some old school techniques I learned from my summons, but ninjutsu isn't my forte." He finished, getting a questioning looks from everyone.

"Jaeger-what?" Tenrai asked. "Isn't your surname Namikaze?"

Danzo was interested in Naruto's sudden change of surname and was very interested, so he decided to let them finish.

"Jaegerjaquez, and don't call me by his surname, he's not my father." He waved his hand. "Right now I have his surname in my papers, but I'm changing it after we're done here." He said, getting a nod from Tenrai and an annoyed groan from Mizuko.

"Are you serious? You are the Hokage's son!" She yelled with disbelief, pointing at Naruto. "Why would you give up all those privileges?!"

"Because, he's not my fucking father!" Naruto yelled back. "Do I even look like him?! And why the fuck would I want to be his son?! As long as I fucking remember people called me 'Hokage-sama's son this' or 'Kiroii Senko's son that', why would I want to live in his damn shadow?!" He retorted back. Naruto was getting seriously pissed off about Mizuko's arguments.

Naruto's retort silenced Mizuko. She looked down and avoided his gaze. Tenrai stood there, watching them quietly but he was slightly surprised by the younger boy's outburst. Mizuko lifted her head up and her deep, brown eyes met Naruto's light blue. She thought about what he said for a second and compared how he looks like to the Hokage's appearance. _'He's right... he doesn't even resemble him. The only things that are similar to the Hokage is his hair style and the blonde streaks in it... but he's confirmed to be Akiho-san's twin brother and Kushina-sama's son... so how is that possible?' _She ran through different theories, but couldn't find any that was reasonable.

"Are you done checking him out Mizuko? We have field test waiting for us." Tenrai interrupted her train of thoughts, getting a low chuckle from Danzo and an annoyed look from Naruto.

Mizuko blushed. "I wasn't checking him out! I was comparing his similarity to the Hokage-sama!" She retorted back, getting another bark of laughter from the brown haired boy.

"So you _did _check him out! Admit it, you like his looks!" He quickly ducked undear a punch that was aimed for his face while he was laughing.

"I didn't! I don't even know anything about him!" She yelled and launched a barrage of punches and kicks that Tenrai easily avoided or blocked, but one punch slipped through his guard and nailed him square in the face. "I don't like him!"

Grimmjow was howling with laughter while Naruto chuckled amused by Tenrai who got pummeled to the ground by Mizuko. _'She really got a backbone, look at him fly!' _Grimmjow choked on his own laugh when Mizuko kicked Tenrai in his nuts. The powerful kick launched him into a wall, leaving an imprint.

Grimmjow, Naruto and Danzo inwardly flinched. "Shit that must have hurt." Naruto whispered and Grimmjow agreed while Danzo nodded.

"Hell hatch no fury like a woman scorched..." Danzo inwardly shivered when the memories of his former kunoichi team mate flashed in his head. He decided to put an end to this before Tenrai dies. He cleared his throat that stopped a punch in Tenrai's face. "Guess that was enough of introductions, meet me at the training ground twenty-three in thirty minutes!" Danzo said and disappeared with a shunshin.

Mizuko huffed and left for the training ground mumbling something about damn team mates, leaving Naruto and the still groaning Tenrai. Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose and grumbled something about 'crazy kunoichis'. He turned his head and walked up to Tenrai who was still embedded in the wall.

"Are you alive?"

Tenrai opened his eyes and grinned. "Still alive and kickin'" He said giving Naruto thumbs up, and got off the wall. That surprised Naruto with his endurance.

"How the fuck can you still walk? She almost fucking penetrated the wall with you along with your balls!" Naruto yelled in disbelief, but Tenrai merely grinned.

To both Naruto's and Grimmjow's surprise, he put his hand into his pants and pulled out... a dent metal plate? "The fuck?" Naruto said with a deadpanned face.

"A precaution, let's say I had a great adviser that told me how to survive women's wrath." Tenrai said and threw the plate away. "Let's go, we don't want them to wait, right? And I have to thank him later."

"Who?"

* * *

Somewhere in Konoha a white haired man sneezed. "I bet a sexy lady is thinking about me right now!" He said bit too loud and someone heard him.

"EEEK! Pervert!" A woman shouted. He turned around and dropped his notebook when he saw several women with only towels.

A small trail of blood flowed from his nose, but he quickly noticed that they weren't friendly. Heck, the intent to murder in their eyes seemed to melt right through him. "Shit!"

"Get him!"

Jiraiya knew that his chances of survival were next to none, so he considered the use of his secret technique that he had developed in mind of events like this. A sight of one woman taking a long metal pole out of nowhere sealed his decision.

"RUN LIKE A BITCH NO JUTSU!"

* * *

Tenrai and Naruto were on their way to the training ground. Ever since they left the roof they didn't talk, but one question kept bugging Naruto. "Tenrai, can I ask you a question?" He said.

"You just did." Tenrai answered and folded his arms behind his neck.

Naruto deadpanned. "Fucking smart ass..." He grumbled. "Back in the academy our instructor told me that you lost your sensei and a teammate last year, what happened?"

In an instant, Tenrai stopped in his tracks and grit his teeth. "They died, that's what happened." He frowned.

Naruto was about to say something when he saw the sorrowful look on his new teammate's face who continued. "I'll tell you after the test, maybe we'll get Mizuko to come with us... she still haven't recovered after that incident..."

Naruto nodded and decided to let the topic go. "Sorry 'bout that."

The grin on Tenrai's face returned. "Don't worry about it." He patted Naruto's back and resumed his walk. The rest of their walk was dead silent. Well, except for Tenrai who was humming a song and Naruto who was talking with Grimmjow - not like anyone could listen to his thoughts, right?

They entered the training ground twenty three and saw that Mizuko was waiting already there, stretching and preparing for the test. She stopped when she noticed that both her team mates were there.

"Took you long enough!" She spoke cheerfully. "Danzo-sensei should be here about now."

Tenrai smiled and Naruto quirked and eyebrow. "Are you bipolar?"

"Shut up! I'm not!"

"Riiight." He said sarcastically.

They heard a cough behind them and turned around to see a masked ANBU. "Are you three brats from team eleven?" They looked at each other and nodded. "Danzo-sama has a meeting with the council right now and he won't be meeting you today, so I'll take over your test. Before you say anything, Danzo-sama will often send someone else in charge if he can't attend directly." The man explained.

"So you were sent to take the charge." Mizuko stated. The man nodded.

"You're smart. Good, my code name is Hyo and I'm one of Danzo-sama's Root operatives" Hyo introduced himself. "I already know _everything_ about you three and Danzo-sama told me what kind of test he wanted to put you three through, a fight." He had their attention now. He studied each one carefully.

Mizuko was on her toes, waiting for anything unexpected. Tenrai had his right arm positioned for a quick draw of his tanto and Naruto had a maniacal grin on his face. "So we got to fight you?" Naruto asked while slowly rolling up his sleeve on his right arm.

Hyo shook his head confusing the three genins. "You won't be fighting me. Naruto-san, you know why you were placed in this team?" The masked Root operative asked.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. The reason why he was placed in this team was unknown to him - it rarely happened for someone to be placed in a team of seasoned genins and Danzo had no genin team in ages.

"There are several reasons. First and most obvious, there were not enough fresh genins to place you in a squad. Also Danzo-sama convinced Hokage-sama to train you under his guidance since there is no one who could, as Danzo-sama said, 'Help you reach your full potential'." He paused to see Naruto's reaction.

The boy kept his narrowed look, while Mizuko for some reason glared daggers at Naruto. "You were placed in this team also because of your skills. Placing you in a regular genin squad would hold you down." He looked then in Tenrai's and Mizuko's direction. "Tenrai-san and Mizuko-san here may be genins, but their skill and experience is enough to be at least mid-chunin, they aren't chunin because of certain... event that you probably talked or will talk about it. Therefore the test will be you fighting them both, at the same time. No holding back."

The last statement got wide eyes from the two seasoned genins. Mizuko got over the surprise and laughed. "Are you serious? He won't survive five minutes against us!"

"I'm not that weak, _Snowflake!"_ Naruto shouted and went into his fighting stance, and increased the density of his _Hierro_ a bit. He jumped back and grinned the way Grimmjow would. "So bring it on and give me a good fight!"

Mizuko got a tick mark on her forehead and nodded to Tenrai. _'This'll be good, give 'em hell Naruto!' _Grimmjow laughed.

Hyo jumped back to the edge of clearing to not get in their way. "Hajime!" He shouted.

Instantly, Tenrai rushed to Mizuko's right while Mizuko ran to her left, both circling Naruto from both sides. She gave Tenrai a discreet message with few hand signs to only engage with taijutsu.

Naruto eyed them carefully as they closed in quickly. When they were ten feet away from him they picked up their speed and dashed towards him, aiming for a double sided hook. Naruto's grin disappeared and was replaced by a serious expression and quickly jumped mid-air. He landed on Tenrai's shoulder while their kicks missed him. He spun on his heel and aimed for a quick elbow drop in his shoulder blade. Just like Sasuke tried back in the academy yesterday.

The green-eyed boy twisted his body and Mizuko quickly recoiled. She launched a barrage of quick punches to the exposed right side of Naruto.

Naruto cursed when his elbow missed Tenrai's back by mere inches and got hit in his ribs by Mizuko's fierce punches. The punches launched him few feet away from Tenrai, but he managed to land with a roll. He stood up and grinned, but the smile quickly disappeared when he saw that Tenrai wasn't there, he heard faint foot steps behind him and turned around to block an elbow to his chest with his right arm, completely absorbing the damage with his _Hierro._ Immediately he grabbed Tenrai's arm and clutched it tightly.

Before the elbow hit him, he quickly pulled back his left arm and without watching he grabbed Mizuko's wrist and pulled it down with his hand. He then quickly let go of her wrist, raised his arm up and nailed Mizuko right in her collarbone with his palm. Before Tenrai noticed that his team mate's attack was countered, he got headbutted in his forehead.

Both Tenrai and Mizuko jumped backwards. Tenrai rubbed his slightly bleeding forehead. "You're good. I didn't expect anyone fresh from the academy to be this good, but I'm not done yet!" He shouted and took out a kunai from his his puch and rushed towards Naruto who quickly pulled out his own kunai to counter. The two collided and engaged in a deadly dance.

Mizuko observed them fight. The girl didn't show it, but she was really impressed by the blue haired boy's skill with the kunai. He was good, as good as Tenrai, if not better and that was something. She knew Tenrai's skill and experience both with kunais and his tanto. If pushed to his limits and in only a kenjutsu fight, the brown haired boy would stand up to most seasoned chunins of Konoha. Though, there weren't many kenjutsu users in the village.

She observed them fight. So far only Tenrai managed to land a successful hit. Naruto's hand was bleeding slightly, but Mizuko knew that Tenrai was being pushed harder and harder. They moved really quickly, ducked under every slash or dodged every stab.

Naruto pulled out a shuriken from his pouch and stabbed it through Tenrai's thigh. The stabbed boy hissed in pain and kicked Naruto away. With a quick move he pulled the shuriken from his wound and threw it at Naruto who deflected it with his kunai. They dashed at each other and connected their blades. An unlucky leaf was caught in when Tenrai's and Naruto's kunai met once again, slicing the unfortunate leaf cleanly in two. They pushed against each other, creating sparks in progress.

Naruto was enjoying this fight greatly. _'He's good, that's a fucking relief that I wasn't placed in team with some weaklings.' _He mused and twisted his kunai, trying to disarm Tenrai. However, Tenrai managed to hold the grip on the blade and punched Naruto in his ribs.

_'You have yet to use your sonido brat.'_ Grimmjow said observing the fight. Naruto didn't respond and engaged Tenrai in another set of attacks. They connected their blades, trying to overpower each other.

Tenrai was amazed by the sole fact that Naruto kept up with him. He remembered at Naruto said that his specialty was both taijutsu and kenjutsu, but seeing his skill in action was a completely different matter. He looked Naruto deep in his eyes. "You don't really look like it, but you are very good." He said. What interested him though, was the way Naruto countered his attacks. The blue haired boy was fighting very unpredictably, wild, ruthlessly and didn't even wince about his wounds. However, Tenrai's experience in fighting was greater than Naruto's so it gave him the required edge in the fight - or so he thought.

Naruto gave a short chuckle when Tenrai complimented him. "You're holding back don't you?" He asked and kicked Tenrai in solar plexus.

Tenrai rubbed the sore spot. "Neither do you, right?" He said and turned to Mizuko. "Are you going to stand there all day and watch?"

Mizuko rolled her eyes but jumped forward. "Ready for round two? We won't hold back anymore." She smirked and took out a kunai while Tenrai threw his kunai at Naruto who deflected it. He reached over his back and unsheathed his tanto. The blade was silver with a black handle. A common weapon that was often used by ANBU. They both blasted him with their killing intent, but they frowned when they saw Naruto's unnerving grin stretch even wider.

He began chuckling, then started laughing maniacally while having a psychotic grin on his face. Naruto's laughter was terrifying and the features of his sharp jaw-line, canines showing off and the blue underlines of his eyes gave him a wild, sadistic look. They both shivered inwardly when he pierced them with his eyes, those were completely different from a few moments ago.

Naruto stopped laughing. "This is great!" He shouted and rolled up his sleeve that revealed the tattoo of a panther's head. "I've been waiting... for this moment!" Naruto shouted and when he said that, he swiped his palm over his tattoo unsealing his katana. The katana appeared in a faint blue flash and he gripped it tightly.

His team mates quickly recoiled and prepared for the fight.

He widened his stance as his inner warrior took over. "Give me a good fight! Don't you fucking dare to hold back!" Naruto shouted. Tenrai's eyes widened when his instincts screamed for him to move. He heard a slight booming noise and jumped to his right, dragging Mizuko along.

Where they previously stood, Naruto appeared with a sound of static, crashing into the ground creating a crater in progress. A cloud of dust appeared from the crash that obscured their sight. Without a second thought, Mizuko whipped out several shurikens from her pouch and with a shout, she threw them towards the cloud where Naruto was supposed to be. "Shuriken Kage Bunshin!" The shurikens multiplied into one hundred, creating a wall of deadly steel that flew towards Naruto.

Naruto not wanting to test his _Hierro,_ jumped high into the air, letting the shurikens pass below him. However, he did not notice a single kunai that flew towards him-

While Mizuko distracted Naruto, Tenrai threw in Naruto's direction a kunai with metal wire tied to it. While it was mid-air, he quickly did four hand seals ending on tiger and released his technique. "Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu!" He shouted and breathed a large stream of fire which followed the cord, catching Naruto off guard. Just before the flames reached Naruto, he cut off the chakra and did a ram seal. "Katsu!" He shouted, triggering the explosive note that was strapped around the handle of the kunai, creating an explosion.

The blue haired teen cursed when he felt the heat near him and quickly did a kawarimi, substituting himself with a log barely avoiding the technique's damage along with the explosion. He knew he wasn't safe for long and decided to get some help.

* * *

"Kawarimi..." Mizuko whispered. Tenrai landed next to her looking slightly winded. "Are you okay?"

Tenrai nodded. "I'm fine, can you sense him?"

Mizuko didn't answer, but she closed her eyes. She felt Tenrai's chakra signature next to her, Hyo's sixty feet behind them and one faint signature behind a tree in nearby. "Thirty feet, nine o'clock!" She said when she sensed Naruto.

They cautiously ran in his direction when they suddenly heard a faint whisper nearby. "Kuchiyose no jutsu" The voice came from their left, and as soon as they heard it, they had to dodge attacks of both a human-sized panther with black and white fur, and Naruto who aimed for Mizuko.

When the panther missed it's target, it jumped to right and landed before Naruto who spoke. "Hiro, stall the girl for me, no maiming or killing though."

The panther whose name was Hiro growled in annoyance. "Right at ya boss, but next time summon me when there's something to kill!" The overgrown cat spoke and took off towards Mizuko.

While Mizuko and Hiro were at it, Naruto jumped Tenrai. His katana met Tenrai's tanto as they exchanged many slices and stabs. Tenrai began to sweat slightly when he fought Naruto - he knew that he wasn't the only one who was getting tired. Mizuko was slowly starting to feel fatigue, but so did Naruto. He managed to gash Naruto's chest, creating a half-inch deep wound, but to his surprise Naruto didn't even wince.

The moment of surprise was enough for Naruto. With a skillful move he twisted his and Tenrai's blade, knocking the tanto off from Tenrai's hands and hit him square in the face with the back of his katana's hilt. Tenrai stumbled back and wiped off the blood from his nose. "I should have given you more credit, I didn't know you can use summons." He complimented Naruto once again. "But I'm not done yet!" He shouted and moved his feet back, triggering a hidden wire.

Naruto's eyes widened when he was enveloped by ninja wire that bound him to a tree. Tenrai landed in front of him and did a hand seal. "Ninpo: Shitai Musubu!" His palm glowed faint blue and thrust it forward, aiming for Naruto's chest.

However, instead of feeling his palm touching his chest, he felt fur instead. Naruto using the distraction powered up his _Hierro_ and ripped through the wires, quickly pulling back his arm and punched Tenrai's abdomen, sending him flying by the Reiryoku powered punch. He sighed in relief and turned around to see his savior.

On the ground lied motionless Hiro. He had what seemed like several chakra wires all over his body "Guess I'm done for here." He spoke with tired voice. "The girl is trapped, but she will be free in a moment."

Naruto nodded. "Thanks for your help." He said.

"No problem, we are comrades, right?" The panther chuckled. "I'll be cured by the others, see ya!" And with that, the panther disappeared to the summons's realm. Naruto turned around and walked towards Tenrai who was motionlessly lying on his stomah, with mention to tie him up. But before he took a fifth step forward, a slight whirling sound came to his ears.

Instinctively, he raised his katana to block the incoming projectile. The blade struck a large windmill shuriken and deflected it with an effort. He looked to where Tenrai was and walked up to him. He crouched down and pulled out the metal wire, but before he began tying Tenrai up, his instincts screamed. He heard a hissing sound and his eyes widened. _'Explosive __tags!'_ Without a second thought, he powered up _Hierro _as much as he could and jumped backwards.

A second later, a huge explosion rocked the training grounds. Naruto grunted when the shrapnel was embedded in his body. The explosion launched him backwards and he crashed into a tree. He fell forward on his knees and elbows, coughing from the dust and blood that was in his throat. If not for his _Hierro__, _his guts would've been scattered around the training ground. Just as he was about to stand up, a kunai with a tag on it embedded itself in the ground in front of him and flashed a bright flash that blinded him.

As his vision was a white mess, he felt something quickly put his arms behind his back and tie him down with the metal wire. Five seconds later his vision returned to normal and was met with sight of Mizuko. She had a victorious grin on her face and was twirling two kunais between her fingers. He felt someone put a kunai under his throat and heard him speak. "Surrender, you lost." That was definitely Tenrai's weak voice.

Naruto cringed slightly while Grimmjow barked with laughter. _'You got your ass handed to yourself, haha!'_

_'Shut the fuck up and never mention it again!' _Naruto yelled in his thoughts and chuckled outside. "You got me here, I give up." He said. Tenrai put the kunai away and began untying Naruto from the metal wire.

He slumped down on his ass and leaned against a tree that was behind him. He noticed that Mizuko took out a sealing scroll and unsealed its content, medical supplies.

She walked up to Tenrai and began bandaging him up. "How come you're bandaging him first?" He joked.

Mizuko snorted. "He's not as pain resistant as you, and he got more wounds." She said sharply.

"You don't have to bite my head off, ugh." Naruto groaned. He watched Mizuko finish bandaging Tenrai who laid on the ground with his arms under his head. The white haired girl walked up to Naruto and began bandaging him. She had a smile on her face while she did so. "Mizuko?" Naruto asked.

The girl looked at him and asked. "What?"

"Nice strategy, using a genjutsu out there on me when I was about to check Tenrai's body. That windmill shuriken along with those explosive tags on his body along with the flash tag and tying me up." He praised her and chuckled. "Though, you didn't have to pack so many explosive tags out there, I think my left eardrum is fucked up." He complained.

Mizuko blushed and scratched her head sheepishly. "Uh, thanks? And sorry about that, I just knew you would survive it." She smiled. "You did amazingly too, I didn't know a panther contract existed, where you got it from?"

Naruto snickered. "My father gave it to me. " He answered and Mizuko looked at him weirdly.

"But you said-"

"Not him, my real father." Naruto quickly corrected. Mizuko remembered his outburst when they introduced each other and decided not to push the matter. "We really need more kunoichis like you, back in the academy, they were pathetic. Except for Akiho, she's the only one trying to do well."

"Uh, thanks." Mizuko whispered and finished bandaging Naruto up.

"Are you done flirting? Hyo's coming." They heard Tenrai speak and looked in his direction, where Hyo was closing in.

The man clapped. "You did extremely well. Danzo-sama will be pleased with your effort." He praised them both. "Since you did so well, I can officially say that the team eleven is official, you will meet Danzo-sama here tomorrow at six am for your training, you're dismissed for the rest of the day." Hyo spoke and disappeared with a shunshin.

Tenrai looked to Naruto and then at Mizuko. He began chuckling slightly and was joined by Naruto and not long after by Mizuko. "So how about we get something to eat? I'm hungry." Mizuko asked her teammates. Tenrai grinned and nodded.

Naruto gave her thumbs up and stood up. "How about we go to the Akimichi barbecue restaurant? I'm paying." He said and Tenrai was about to argue. "Looking at it, I'm still Yondaime's son by surname, so I guess they won't mind if we ask for free dinner."

"Barbecue it is!" Mizuko shouted and dragged Naruto along, followed by Tenrai who laughed.

_'Maybe you'll help her get over Tanzo's death...' _He thought and caught up with them

* * *

**I know this is rather short chapter compared to the previous one, but I really wanted to update it. The next chapter will be longer - I promise!**

**So how did you like the fight? If you are disappointed by Naruto's loss, remember that except his fights against Grimmjow, he doesn't really have any real-life battle experience - opposite to Mizuko and Tenrai. He was also taken by the surprise and well planned strategy. If it was a fight of power versus power, he would surely have won against those two. **

**Tenrai along with Naruto will be the muscle of the team, while Mizuko is both a sensor, tracker and strategist. I tried to make the fight as detailed as I can, but I bet I could have done it whole load better.**

**Also, I'm sorry for any grammar mistakes, I'm still learning, but I'm doing my best.**

*****SPOILER ALERT*****

_No, Mizuko is not the pairing I have chosen for the story - she will be a very crucial character though, it will greatly affect Naruto's relationship with the chosen pairing. _**  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Uh, I guess it's much earlier than I thought. I have no real tests this week and I was bored out of my mind, so I just sat down and wrote... GOOD FOR YOU.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!**

* * *

Mizuko and Tenrai were seated on a table in Konoha's most known restaurant, The Akamichi Barbecue restaurant. They served very tasty food at good prices, which resulted in their fame and good income.

They waited for Naruto as their teammate ordered and paid for the food. Tenrai looked at Mizuko who caught his glance. She nodded, knowing her teammate well enough to know that he wanted to ask a question.

Tenrai looked in the reception's direction to make sure that Naruto haven't finished yet. "Mizuko... I know you don't want to speak about it, but we have to tell Naruto about Tanzo and Tsumura-sensei." He began and quickly regretted bringing up the topic.

Mizuko's head and shoulders slumped down. She looked down and her hand unconsciously rubbed her scarred cheek. Her eyes slowly started to tear up when she remembered her deceased teammate. She shut them tight and held back a sob.

Tenrai sighed, Mizuko still haven't gotten over their deaths, especially Tanzo's. Tanzo was both Tenrai's best friend and a rival and his death struck him badly. However their sensei's death was the most painful for him. Tsumura was like a mother he never had. Growing as an orphan was painful. Such life forced you to mature much faster than usual. So when he found out that Tsumura cared for him and his teammates, he saw in her both a sensei and a mother figure.

Tenrai groaned and quickly crushed the sad feelings. "Mizuko, get your shit together!" Tenrai snapped, surprising the softly sobbing girl. Her head shot up and her teary eyes stared right into Tenrai's. "I hate saying that, but you should get over their deaths already! Don't stay in the past, they won't come back!" He shouted, choking slightly on a weak sob. "The pain will only make you drown deeper..."

"You should keep it down, the entire restaurant is looking at you, ya know?" They heard Naruto's voice and froze. Both turned to him and saw him standing there, with a waitress who had a full plate of food with her and behind her, every customer that was in sight was looking in their direction. Naruto then faced the customers who were whispering between each other and spoke. "That's a private matter so shut the fuck up and don't bother us."

Everyone who knew that Naruto was the Hokage's son decided that it was a dumb idea to ignore him and went back to their own food. Naruto smirked and sat down next to Mizuko. Her face was all red from embarrassment. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He said while the waitress placed a large silver plate of food on the table.

Tenrai decided and let Mizuko answer. He picked up his chopsticks and began eating his meal, observing carefully their conversation.

"Tsumura-sensei and Tanzo-kun died on a mission thirteen months ago." Mizuko whispered loud enough for Naruto and Tenrai to hear. She turned to Naruto and noticed that he was paying attention. With a nod he motioned her to continue. "We were sent on a simple C-rank elimination mission. We were supposed to take care of bandits that threatened a small town south-east of Konoha..." She let out a small sob.

"Everything went fine, we took care of the bandits and were on our way back to Konoha - and then we met _them._" She said the last word with venom in her voice.

"Whom?" Naruto asked curiously. Grimmjow was also listening to their story, throwing a comment here and there.

Tenrai finished his rice and said. "Kakuzu of Takigakure and Hidan of Yugakure. The mission went from a C-rank to an S-rank in a moment..."

Naruto's eyes widened recognizing the names from the Bingo book. _'I heard about them... holy shit! Both are S-class missing nin, why the fuck would they engage Konoha nin?' _He thought surprised and asked. "Why did they target you?"

"They spoke about collecting Tsumura-sensei's bounty... and she had a large one on her head..." Mizuko was about to cry again when she felt Naruto's hand on her shoulder. She let out a breath and leaned back.

Tenrai inwardly smiled and continued. "Tsumura-sensei knew that we wouldn't get out from that alive if we fought, so she ordered us to run for our lives. I and Mizuko did run away, but Tanzo's damn honor forbid him leaving a woman alone, so that idiot stayed with Tsumura-sensei... his body - or what was left of it - was found in the same place the next day when Hokage-sama sent an ANBU squad to fetch the bodies and look for any traces that would led us to those bastards... I should have stayed and help them... maybe if I did, they would still live... I'm such a coward!" Tenrai yelled the last part and slammed his hand on the table, effectively startling some people who were listening to the story. Mizuko bit her lower lip, to resist crying.

"We should never have come back to this discussion..." Naruto heard her whisper and wasn't sure how to respond since he did not experience the pain of losing someone close to him. Hell, his short life was that of a loner and he never cared for anything that happened around him and just pushed forward. _'Grimmjow, I'm confused here and I don't know what the fuck I should do. Any suggestions here?'_

_'Nope, I was always a lone wolf and I had no dear people to me. You're on your own.' _Grimmjow shrugged. Naruto had an urge to punch him, but let it go.

He sighed once again and placed a hand on Mizuko's shoulder and squeezed it slightly. The girl turned her head and stared at him with slight confusion in her eyes. "To be honest... I am so confused right now trying to find a good answer, but I've never felt the pain of losing someone." He spoke, and let go of Mizuko's shoulder. "I'd say something but I'm afraid that I'll screw it up... but... god damn it." He groaned and slapped his face.

Mizuko gently smiled when she heard Tenrai's low chuckle. "Don't worry about it Naruto, there is nothing we can do about it... just move forward and don't look back, right Mizu-chan?"

"Don't call me like that!" She retorted and got another laugh from Tenrai and amused smirk from Naruto.

"So maybe you want me to call you _Snowflake _instead?" Naruto couldn't resist and barked with laughter.

"I'll punch you!" She hissed, then turned to Naruto and pierced him with her glare. "And you, shut up!"

The two boys closed their mouths and looked between each other and Mizuko. The girl was quiet as well for a second, before the trio blew up with laughter.

They calmed down after a minute or two. "Huuh, I needed that." Tenrai said and wiped a tear from his eye. Then he noticed that the food had gotten cold. He yawned and stood up. "I don't know how about you but I need a nap, see ya later!" The brown haired boy said and idly thanked for the food.

Mizuko and Naruto bid him farewell and sat still for few more minutes. "Thank you..." Naruto heard her speak.

"Don't worry about it." He said as he stretched his arms and then looked on the table that was full of cold food. "The amount of wasted food is too damn high..." Naruto groaned. He definitely won't eat any cold food. He stood up and looked at the clock that was hanging on the wall nearby. It was roughly afternoon and he was already tired. "It's still early, want to hang out?" He asked with a grin.

_'Oh? Asking for a date right away? Keep it up brat!'_ Grimmjow said and snickered.

_'Shut yer trap bastard!'_

Mizuko thought about it for a second. "Not sure, I was going to restock my equipment today..." She muttered to herself and something struck Naruto.

"Right! I planned to change my surname today! Wonder if he's busy right now..." He said and turned back to Mizuko. "So I guess we'll see each other tomorrow, eh?"

The girl smiled and nodded to him. "Team meeting at seven in the morning, see ya!" She waved to him and disappeared with a shunshin.

"Hokage tower it is..." Naruto muttered to himself, thanked the waitress for the food and walked out of the restaurant on his way to Hokage tower, engaging himself in a pointless argument with Grimmjow.

When he reached the Hokage tower, he found that the office was empty. The secretary told him that Minato had a dinner break at his mansion with his family.

_'God damnit, now I'll have to deal with Akiho and mom too... fuck.' _Naruto cursed as he headed for the Namikaze mansion.

_'Still calling her your mother, eh?' _Grimmjow snickered.

_'Whatever you say, she still gave birth to me.'_

_'Don't go all family on me brat, I still don't understand why you despise Minato so much.' _Grimmjow said questioningly.

Naruto groaned. _'Don't you feel that when we're around him? Something is off about him, but I can't place a finger on what.' _He explained with a frown. Ever since he could remember, something about Minato was off and Naruto was aware of that. But as he suspected, he was the only one who did so. _'That's the reason why I prefer to avoid him...'_

Grimmjow thought about it for a second. _'Yeah, something is so fucking wrong about him that your idiocy is not wrong, we're here.'_ He said with a sarcasm which Naruto ignore. They had arrived at the door of the mansion. As soon as he opened the doors, he found Kushina standing in the hall looking at him with disbelief in her eyes. The surprised look was quickly replaced by complete glee.

"Naruto-kun!" She said loudly and proceeded to hug the shit out of Naruto. Grimmjow choked on his laughter when Naruto's head was squashed in the red head's chest.

_'What did I do to deserve this?' _Naruto groaned inwardly.

_'Brat, sometimes I feel jealous of you._'

_'Shut up!_'

Kushina released him from the bear hug and dragged him to the dining room where Minato and Akiho were eating. They both froze when they saw the familiar blue haired teen. Minato slightly frowned and couldn't help but wonder, why would he come here?

Akiho on the other hand was about to explode with happiness. "Nii-san!" She darted from her chair, kicking Minato's knee in progress. "What are you doing here? How is your team? What is with your bandages?" The auburn haired girl continued throwing the question left and right. Naruto snapped after question seventeen.

"Shut up already." He silenced the girl and got bonked in the head by his mother. "I'm here for business, not interrogation." Naruto said and turned to Minato. "You're done eating?"

The blonde haired Hokage merely nodded and stood up. "What business?" He asked fondling his arms.

_'Their reactions will be golden.' _Grimmjow snickered and Naruto smirked. "They didn't let me do this since I wasn't eighteen years old, and unfortunately since I am a shinobi I have to take it up with you."

"What is it?" Akiho asked curiously. Both she and Kushina slowly inched towards Naruto.

"I want to change my surname."

Silence fell over the Namikazes. "You want WHAT?!" Kushina roared.

"Are you deaf? I told you, I want to change my surname." Naruto repeated. He noticed that Akiho was staring at him with her eyes wide and her jaw on the floor. Minato on the other hand looked at him with a serious face, he already knew of it since Danzo had informed him about that.

The blonde Hokage walked forward and placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder and both disappeared from the dining room with the use of Hiraishin.

Kushina looked at Akiho who was on verge of tears, crouched down and pulled her daughter into a hug.

* * *

Naruto and Minato appeared in the Hokage's office. Naruto stumbled a bit, getting rid of the dizziness while Minato walked behind the desk. He pulled out a sheet of papers and slammed them down on the desk. "I have some questions for you Naruto." He began and motioned Naruto to sit.

Naruto sat down and looked Minato deep in the eyes. "I already know the reason why you want to leave our family and to be honest, I don't. Fucking. Care." The Yondaime said harshly. "The first question is, how did you prevent Inoichi from entering your memories?"

Naruto wasn't surprised about the question as he saw it coming. "Simple, I blocked them."

Minato slammed his fist on the table with enough force to make a crack on it. "Don't give me this bullshit Naruto! The only way you could do it is either to seal it with fuinjutsu or stay conscious during the Shintenshin which is impossible. The only way is to stay conscious within your soulscape!" Minato shouted.

Naruto could swear he saw a grey glint in the Hokage's eyes for a slightest second but shrugged it off. "So yeah, I was in my soulscape, big deal."

Minato calmed himself down, but kept his serious look. "Impossible. You can't enter your soulscape without a medium." He eyed the boy closely. "You were born from the same mother and yet you don't even resemble one of us. Your abilities you showed during your field test were abnormal for a fresh academy student who was a dead last for the last few years... also the panther's summoning contract... yes, that's enough of evidence."

Grimmjow narrowed his eyes. _'He suspects that something is sealed within you... shit'. _Naruto was getting angrier. Should he blame it on the panthers again? No, Minato wasn't this stupid to believe him.

"So either you explain what you have to explain... or you won't like what I prepared for you." Minato threatened and released a large portion of his killing intent. Naruto shivered as he felt the cold chill go down his spine. _'This fucker... what do I do, what do I do… damn it all to hell back and forth!' _Naruto cursed when he noticed that the six ANBU who were stationed in the room dropped the camouflage. In Minato's hands were a chain and a long sealing tag. _'Fuck this, should I tell him?'_

_'Do whatever the fuck you want. This is your life - not mine.' _Grimmjow said with a growl. Naruto inhaled deeply and spoke before the Hokage did anything. "As much as I fucking hate you for that threat, I'll tell you." This earned a surprised look from Minato.

"So I was right, something possesses you..." The blonde Hokage narrowed his eyes and growled, "...who are you and what have you done with my son?"

Naruto gave a short laugh. "Don't make me laugh, Namikaze. I'm still the same person, though for the way I look like, blame Grimmjow." The blue haired teen said and his face split into a toothy grin when he heard Grimmjow's curses.

"ANBU, leave us alone." Minato ordered. The six didn't respond but disappeared from the room. "Now, mind telling me who this Grimmjow is?"

Naruto's grin disappeared and was replaced by a serious look on his face. "He is the reason why I look like this. He was placed by the higher authorities inside my soul four hours before my birth. My DNA was altered and mostly replaced by his, not everything was replaced though as you see, I still have few blonde streaks and my hairstyle similar to yours. Also I'm not _that_ sadistic as he is." He explained, holding back a short chuckle when he mentioned the sadistic nature of Grimmjow.

Minato was baffled by the explanation, but something worried him. "Higher authorities?" He asked.

"That I can't tell, it's a secret which has more value than my life." Naruto answered. There was no way in hell he would tell anyone about the existence of The Sage of Six Paths as an actual god of their realm.

The Yondaime nodded. "Do you have any proof of this Grimmjow persona, being inside you?"

"You just said that I can't enter my soulscape without a medium, is that enough of a proof for you?"

"I guess... now about your abilities, what are-" He proceed but was cut off by Naruto.

"Won't tell what they are, just for you to know - there isn't even a hint of chakra in them and Grimmjow is training me." He answered and gave another toothy grin.

Minato rolled his eyes at Naruto's grinning habit. "What about panthers? From what the toads told me, they appeared thirteen years ago in the summon realm, fought against leopards for dominance and took over half of their territory. That's too much of coincidence." He concluded.

That was true. Thirteen years ago the panthers just appeared from nowhere and clashed with the leopards. The other summons that weren't associated with the feline clans decided to ignore the events that happened in the feline country, while the other major feline clans broke off into two sides that sided with the panthers or with the leopards. Those who were sided with panthers were cougars, tigers and lynxes. One the other side with leopards was lions, cheetahs and cats.

The other clans decided to stay out of the conflict. The reports Jiraiya and Minato received from the toads said that the conflict lasted for seven years. In the end the panthers were winning. After six and half years of conflict they decided to create a treaty. Every clan agreed and approved the treaty, thus ending the bloodshed, though the leopards lost a large chunk of their territory to panthers.

Naruto chuckled as he recalled the stories about the war a certain red panther told him. "Yeah, and they did so. Though, I can't tell you where they came from."

Minato eyed him suspiciously. "Riiight." He answered sarcastically. The wars in the realm of summons couldn't be taken lightly. "I suppose you want me to keep the existence of your... tenant a secret?" Naruto nodded. "Then a secret it is, you are dismissed." Minato sighed and rubbed his temples.

Naruto quirked his eyebrow. "I still want to change my surname." He said and Minato froze.

The Hokage looked at him with slightly widened eyes. "Are you sure you want to? Doing so you'll hurt both Kushina and Akiho" He spoke, knowing that if anyone, then Naruto had a soft spot for the two.

"After all I told you - even if this wasn't much - you should understand my reasons why I want to change it." Naruto answered. "I don't see you as my father, Minato. Even if Kushina gave birth to me and Akiho is my twin sister, I don't really feel any strong attachments to them... maybe in future as friends, but definitely not family. I won't complain about being your and their comrade though."

Minato nodded with closed eyes and leaned back in his seat. "Any other reasons why you want to leave our family? Just... why don't you want a family to back you up?"

Naruto thought about it for a second, but shook his head no.

Minato sighed and handed the required documents for Naruto to sign. The boy accepted them with a grin and quickly filled the required information like his shinobi registration, new surname and the old surname, date and some less important things. After five minutes he handed them back to Minato who took them and scanned through.

"Jaegerjaquez?" Minato asked, slightly confused by the weird choice of surname.

Naruto didn't respond but gave another toothy grin. The Hokage sighed and wrote his surname on the documents, finally approving the file. "From now you are booted off my mansion. Now get the hell out of my office, genin Jaegerjaquez!" Minato yelled annoyed.

Naruto stood up and walked towards the doors, opened them and to Minato's surprise the boy disappeared at high speed, leaving a slight noise of static behind him. "Most curious..." The Hokage muttered before disappearing with his Hiraishin to tell his family about Naruto.

* * *

"That went surprisingly well." Naruto said as he appeared in his soulscape. Grimmjow grinned and gave him thumbs up. Naruto narrowed his eyes when Grimmjow didn't attack him. "You're not going to fight or what?"

"Nah, I'm going to teach you another Arrancar technique. After you got your ass handled to you by your teammates, I decided to kick up your training to a whole new level." Grimmjow answered with an evil grin. Naruto visibly gulped at the thought of harder training, but was excited for it at the same time.

Grimmjow motioned him to come closer and Naruto did so. "What I will teach you is something called Pesquisa, it's a sonar ability."

"Sonar ability?" Naruto asked disappointed. He honestly thought it would be a destructive technique or something...

Grimmjow nodded. "It is very easy to learn, but hard to master and use in combat. Back then on the field test you didn't notice that this white haired chick swapped Tenrai's body with a booby trap, with this technique you will know everything what is happening around you. And I mean, everything, from air disruptions, enemy movements to people's signatures." The older Arrancar explained.

Naruto whistled in amazement. "That would come in handy... so how do I do it?"

"Close your eyes and reach out with your Reiryoku as far as you can. Tell me when you sense me." Grimmjow explained and Naruto nodded.

The young teen close his eyes and focused on his flow of Reiryoku, slowly letting it out from his body. After few seconds his Reiryoku burst out from his body, disrupting his control but luckily he tamed it quickly. Normally with closed eyes his vision would be dark. However, with the initial use of Pesquisa he could 'see' with his eyes closed. He sensed Grimmjow's signature that was not surprisingly blue. He grinned and without opening his eyes spoke. "I got you."

Grimmjow smiled proud. _'I knew it, he's a better sonar type than Ulquiorra is... or was' _He slowly started to walk backwards. "Call it when you don't sense me anymore!" Grimmjow shouted and started running. As he kept his pace his grin grew wider and wider. After three minutes he heard Naruto shout something, Grimmjow stopped and scanned the distance.

He gave a whistle when he saw actually how far Naruto's pesquisa reached. What amazed him was that the younger lad's Pesquisa had wider range than his own! "Holy shit brat."

Naruto opened his eyes and panted heavily. After three minutes of using his Pesquisa he felt it drain him quickly. He didn't stop though, as he wanted to see how far he could reach. At a certain point his head started to hurt, because of the strain and reduced the range immediately. He looked up at Grimmjow and saw the grin on man's face. "So how did I do?" He asked.

Grimmjow gave him his hand which Naruto took and helped him get up on his feet. "You're capable of being better than me, or any other Arrancar I know. Now I'll drill it into you until you'll be able to use it instinctively in combat..." Grimmjow trailed off as a toothy grin appeared on his face.

Naruto shivered. He already knew in what direction did it go... and he knew that he was fucked. The instincts kicked in and he ducked under a horizontal swing that would hurt him badly. "Just don't use Cero or Bala on me again..." Naruto groaned when he saw the mischievous grin on Grimmjow's face and a spark of red in the madman's palm. "Shit." Naruto cursed as he did his best in avoiding the blasts.

* * *

Naruto was found leaning against a tree in the training ground twenty three at the crack of dawn, waiting for his teammates and his sensei. '_Speaking about the war-hawk, I wonder what plans he has for us.' _The blue haired teen mused, earning a sleepy grunt from Grimmjow. "Lazy bastard." Naruto snorted and closed his eyes, reaching out with his Pesquisa.

While he hadn't learned how to use it instinctively and in combat, Naruto could easily use it as a sonar ability. He opened his eyes when he sensed two signatures heading this way from west, and two from south. From west came his teammates, Mizuko and Tenrai. Tenrai had a rather large bump on his head and Naruto couldn't help but pity him. He was bandaged up from yesterday's training when Naruto cut him up, and Mizuko probably decided that he wasn't injured enough. Though, from way Tenrai walked he didn't mind much.

Shaking his head he returned the greetings from his teammates. As they were nearing, he looked in the direction the other two signatures were coming from. Not surprisingly one was Hyo, the ROOT operative and the second person was obviously the old man Danzo.

"Wonder what sensei has prepared for us, maybe some elemental training?" Mizuko interrupted Naruto's train of thoughts and shrugged in response. Tenrai however, for some reason looked giddy when she mentioned elemental training.

They sat in silence for a minute or two before their sensei and Hyo were close enough to start the team's training. "I see you are already here." He began and ordered the assembled team to sit down before beginning his monologue while Hyo stood slightly behind him.

"Now, I have created a training schedule for you three basing off your earlier records and the yesterday's field test." He stopped here and looked at Naruto who was paying attention. "Though, I'm genuinely surprised. Not only you two, Tenrai and Mizuko are very well trained for a genin rank, almost mid-chunnin level if I should speak, but Naruto you managed to hold your own for pretty long duration. If not for the lack of experience I would say you had great chance of beating them."

The team eleven gave a slight nod of thanks and let him continue. "You will keep your genin rank as of yet, but be assured, from now you are unofficial chunins. You will be taking missions varying from high C-ranked to mid B-ranked." The slightly surprised look was written on the team's face. Such high level missions right off the bat and they aren't even chunins? Well, officially. "You won't be taking any missions in a month so we can focus on team dynamics first."

Tenrai raised his arm signaling a question. Danzo nodded to him, letting him ask. "Sensei, if I might ask - what are you planning on teaching us?" The brown haired boy asked.

Danzo's lips curled into a small smile. "Hyo." He spoke a single word and the masked ROOT operative walked forward.

"Your training will be focused on no-chakra based warfare." He spoke calmly.

The mentioning of no-chakra surprised the teens. "No-chakra based? How the hell are we supposed to fight then?" Mizuko asked with genuine surprise in her voice.

Hyo raised his hand mentioning her to be quiet. "The ROOT training had been improved over the last three year. Danzo-sama, am I authorized to tell them about the new ROOT training system?" He asked turning to his master.

"Authorized." The war-hawk answered.

Hyo nodded and turned back to the team. "You might be surprised, but part of our newly trained operatives are capable or disabling a jonin-level shinobi without any use of chakra based attacks, or even increasing their strength provided by natural presence of chakra in our bodies." Mizuko's and Tenrai's eyes widened in surprise while Naruto just grinned, being able of doing such feats while still having Chakra and Reiryoku to back him up was really appealing. "The training is somewhat brutal, but it is worth it and you'll definitely survive it.

_'Now that is something I'd really like to learn._' Naruto thought and Grimmjow, who had woken recently, agreed. Naruto's Reiryoku levels might be very large, but on the other hand his chakra capacity was lacking.

"But why would we do that? Wouldn't it be better to use our chakra?" Mizuko asked, eager to learn more.

Danzo smirked and decided to answer that one. "Legends speak of the first shinobis several hundred year ago who had no ability of using chakra, but were able to reach amazing feats just with their physical bodies. By pushing themselves to their limits they easily were able to do things many of today's ninja are afraid of doing." He explained and gathered the expressions on his students' faces. "You'll begin seeing the results of such training in few weeks. Now less talking and get to the training, I might explain more another day." He finished and walked away, letting Hyo direct their training.

As soon as Danzo was out of the ear-shot, Hyo began. "I have the training regimen ready based from your earlier feats. Mizuko-san," He said and turned to the girl who looked at him. "You are proficient in the use of metal-wire and have an athletic body. I will be teaching you a technique that was once abandoned but is slowly being reintroduced among our operatives."

Mizuko stood up ready. "And that is...?"

"Control over the metal-wires with the use of your fingers. It might not sound appealing, but the technique is deadly." He finished and pulled out a rather thick scroll from his pouch and handed it to Mizuko. "This scroll contains the theory over the technique. Read it ten times and memorize it, then come back to me." He finished and Mizuko saluted.

"I'll see you guys later!" She chirped and ran off to the other side of training ground to read her scroll, ignoring the groans from her teammates.

"And what do we get? Free candies?" Naruto asked sarcastically while Tenrai chuckled. Hyo's slight smile was hidden under his mask. He pulled out two paper tags and slapped them on their backs, taking them by surprise. Both stumbled slightly when they felt their chakra getting sealed away. "What the hell did you to me!" Naruto yelled angry.

"Your training will be... silent steps. No using of chakra to dampen your movements, just pure stealth." Hyo answered and ordered them to walk around and try not to make any noise. "Later we'll progress into gravel walking and even glass." He added as the two tried to walk as lightly as they could while Hyo gave tips and corrected their faults.

The following four hours were rather annoying for both Naruto and Tenrai. Whenever they made a wrong step and grass rustled beneath them, Hyo would force them to do thirty pushups or pull ups - and that was very often. Both were lying down on their backs, panting heavily when Mizuko came back to them.

Naruto noticed that the girl was incredibly giddy. He pulled himself up and raised an eyebrow when noticed that there was no sight of Hyo. "Where is sensei?"

"We have an hour of break, what were you doing what are those tags?" Mizuko asked about the sealing tags on their backs.

Tenrai groaned and pushed himself off the ground. "Suppression tags that seals our chakra away."

Mizuko raised an eyebrow while taking out a sealing scroll from her pouch. "Now why would he do that?"

"We're learning how to move around without making any noise, without chakra... and if we screw up we had to do either pushups or pull ups... fucking slave driver." Naruto cussed and eyed the scroll Mizuko had in her hands. "What's that?"

The girl grinned and unsealed the scroll, revealing three bento boxes. "Food, eat up!" She said and gave one box to Naruto and the other to Tenrai, who dove into the food right off the bat.

Naruto ignored Tenrai and opened the box, revealing rice balls. He grabbed one and took a rather large bite of it. "What is that wire technique you read about?" He asked mouthful of rice.

Mizuko patted the thick scroll that was on her side and grinned. "It's amazing. I've never seen or heard about anything like that." She answered with faraway look.

Naruto groaned when she unknowingly tried to avoid the question. "I asked you..."

"Ah, right! Well, instead of regular metal-wire I will be using the sharp version of it. Basically I control the movements of the wire with my fingers and eventually with my feet, but I doubt I'll be this good yet. Not before two years." She answered. "Since it isn't named yet, I'll just call it the "Razor Wire Control".

Naruto whistled. "Is it this hard to learn?" He asked genuinely interested.

"Yep!" She chirped. "You'll see when I learn it! I can't use chakra to control them though, it's only body movements and physical strength." She whined and began eating her own bento box. Naruto shrugged it off and went back to his own meal, soon going back to training when Hyo came back.

* * *

That was what they did in three weeks of training. They would arrive at the training ground twenty-three at six am. For first four hours they would practice the silent steps, from there they had two hours of team dynamics and tactics. At twelve am they had an hour break and after it they had four hours of Naruto and Tenrai sparring against each other and Mizuko practicing the "Razor Wire" technique as she decided to call it since it had no particular name. From five pm to nine pm they had the only chakra training they could get. Mainly the chakra control exercises like tree and water walking.

Mizuko and Naruto had no problems with the water walking since their reserves weren't that large, but Tenrai had to sacrifice an additional hour or two to stay on their level. Everything except the chakra training was done with chakra suppression seals.

Naruto and Tenrai had already mastered the silent steps enough to move quickly on grass without making a single sound, so Hyo moved them onto gravel walking. Needless to say, this one was much harder to learn than the grass walking.

They trained every day, even on Sunday. Though, on Sundays they had strategy lessons with Danzo, because they couldn't just rely on Mizuko's strategy. That was also the only day they would be trained under Danzo's supervision. Throughout the week they were tutored by Hyo since Danzo had entire ROOT battalion to command along with the council. The old man really had much to do.

After two weeks of training, Hyo got a set of clothes for each of them which they would use when on missions. It consisted of simple dark grey pants, a long sleeved t-shirt in the same color, a dark grey face mask that covered their entire face save for their eyes and a dark grey bandana to hide their hair and a simple belt capable of holding several scrolls. It was simple, comfortable, and cheap and was great for operations in dark.

The color was very important, if it was black instead of dark grey, it would stand out in the light, and during night it would be too dark to avoid a trained eye. When they were clothed, except their posture, height and wide they were pretty much looking the same. Their headbands that held Konoha's insignia were hidden under the bandana, because of the same reason ROOT operatives have blank masks. As Danzo believed, it was pointless to show off your allegiance unless necessary.

Now roughly three weeks later, Team Eleven was standing in front of the Hokage's desk, clothed in their "mission set up" with masks down and with Hyo behind them.

Mizuko, as the team leader chosen by Naruto and Tenrai, saluted and spoke to the Fourth Hokage. "Hokage-sama, we request a mission called 'The Hunt' if it is at the disposal." She spoke, surprising both Minato and Kushina who was sitting on the couch with a book on her lap.

"Seriously, the hunt? Is your team ready, Hyo?" Minato asked the masked operative. 'The Hunt' was a mission given to genins during second's and third's Hokage's reign. It was given when the team's sensei wanted them to take a first kill, and get over with it. That kind of mission was no different than bandit hunt.

But what really surprised Minato, was that this kind of mission wasn't requested in over twenty years.

"I have no voice in this case, Hokage-sama, the team leader, Mizuko decided that the team is ready and I trust her reasoning." The masked man answered.

Minato raised an eyebrow, but before he could deny the request Mizuko spoke. "Hokage-sama, our skill together is enough to handle a borderline A-ranked ninja, but we need experience, mainly Naruto." She explained, hoping that the Hokage would buy it.

That was no joke that they could take on a low A-ranked ninja by now. Naruto's skill was increasing by leaps and bounds ever since they began the special training. Mizuko with her Razor Wires and Tenrai with his large Chakra reserves, they wouldn't use Chakra in that hunt though, that was a test if they could handle a band of bandits without Chakra. If things got out of hand they could go full out, and there was Hyo as well.

"I know… I've read reports, you are authorized for 'The Hunt'…" Minato answered and walked up to a closet, where several scrolls were placed. He pulled a small brown scroll and threw it to Mizuko who caught it with ease. "If that is all, you are dismissed."

The Team Eleven nodded and walked out of the office. As soon as they left, Kushina spoke up. "I can't believe that he is actually better than Akiho… but taking on an A-nin? That's ridiculous"

Minato ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Danzo is teaching them well, they are becoming professional shinobi. If you looked at their posture you could see it."

"But to teach them that old art… is he just experimenting?" Kushina wondered about the no-chakra based warfare.

Minato shook his head. "I've seen his operatives fight that way, it's really efficient, less destructive and professional." He mused and sat back down to his work. "We'll see results later on"

Kushina nodded and opened her book. "I guess you're right…"

Minato nodded and opened a letter. "A request from Wave…" He whispered under his breath.

* * *

**Well whoopy-doop, this damn site is like a cancer, can't get rid of it. **

**Next chapter is The Hunt! Then I'll begin the wave arc.**

**I'll give you a cookie if you guess from where I got their outfits. :3**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi guys! Sefrys here with another chapter of Konoha's Panther. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bleach.**

* * *

The Team Eleven was currently heading towards eastern gate of Konoha. Their mission objective was simple, track down a pack of bandits that is threatening the smaller towns east of Konoha.

This was their mission and the three unofficial chunnins had to do this alone, without help from Hyo. It was a test to see if Naruto was capable of taking someone else's life and to see if Team Eleven can handle it without chakra. Therefore Hyo would stay behind and take an action if things got out of hand.

As soon as they reached the gate, Mizuko showed the authorization to leave the village to a chunnins who was guarding the gate. The chunnins took a single glance on the paper and nodded, letting them pass.

When Naruto took a step out of the village, he realized at he hadn't been outside the walls before. Excitement flashed in his eyes as he pulled the mask on his face, covering it all the way to the bridge of the nose. Mizuko and Tenrai did the same while Hyo jumped off to the side.

They knew that he would be watching them from a distance and at he would make sure nothing bad happens. "So what are the details?" Naruto asked. He had been only briefly what the mission is about, so it is understandable at he wanted to know more information.

Mizuko took the scroll from her pouch, opened it and read out loud. "Mission's area is spread over square thirty eight to forty four, a pack of bandits, approximately thirty, raided smaller villages and farms in square thirty nine and forty. No information about certain individuals and where they reside. We'll have to gather more information first, we don't know if there is a random missing-nin." She finished with a frown. Lack of information is crucial, especially when it's about the enemy forces.

Naruto nodded while Tenrai did a grunt. "Where do you believe we should begin?" Tenrai asked their team leader.

The white haired girl thought about it a second. "We start with a mining village in square forty two. Since it is a mine it's most likely at bandits have been there, or at least someone knows about them." She explained.

The 'square' was the name tactical areas. They were ten miles long in both length and wide. This way it was much easier to give off orders and directions.

Naruto nodded and they started traveling at an average speed. They were in no hurry, and it wasn't that long of a journey, only two thirds worth of days travel.

Hyo tailed them not far behind. He smiled under the mask when he noticed at their movements were silent when running on the grass. Their training was difficult, but the effects were already visible. They progressed so far in only three weeks, while it took from four to five months for a regular ROOT recruit to reach that point. _'Soon they will become famous and feared. I just know it, especially Naruto.' _The ROOT operative thought.

The journey to square forty two was progressing rather peacefully. Except few merchants they've found nothing unusual and that was what worried Mizuko. _'It's too quiet… there was no sight of herbivore animals for a while…' _She thought and discretely pulled down her mask. She frowned and raised her hand to stop her teammates.

"What's wrong?" Tenrai asked. He had an uneasy feeling on the bottom of his stomach and he didn't know why.

The white haired team leader sniffed the air several times. Naruto noticed her actions and slightly pulled down his mask to reveal his nostrils. He sniffed the air and an intensive stench of copper and salt hit his nose. He instantly recognized it and frowned before placing the mask back on. "Blood… lots of blood." He muttered.

Mizuko nodded grimly and pointed to the east and upwards. Tenrai and Naruto looked up and noticed several black birds flying nearby. "Crows, let's investigate it." Mizuko ordered and the two boys nodded. _'Please make it be just a dead animal.' _She silently prayed.

They entered a small clearing and instantly stopped in their tracks. Mizuko's and Tenrai's eyes widened slightly while Naruto gave a curse.

To a tree in the clearing was impaled a bloodied, half-naked body of a man. He was pinned to the tree with simple metal poles by his wrists. His face was missing his eyes, a knife had been shoved through his mouth into the three and his lower body was littered in cuts.

Below him was another corpse in no better shape. It was a body of a naked teen girl. A long was impaled through her chest and the lung. Her hair seemed to be brutally ripped off and by telling in what position she was on the ground it was obvious at she died the worst way a woman could die. Pieces of the two unfortunate persons were scattered around the tree and their bodies were being pecked by a small flock of carrion crows.

Naruto clenched his fists and cursed under his breath while Mizuko bit her lower lip and tried to look away. "Tortured, raped and murdered…" Tenrai whispered grimly.

Grimmjow looked at the scene through Naruto's eyes and was barely containing his rage. _'Naruto, if you find the motherfucker who did this, punish him with a slow and painful death.' _Naruto didn't answer but nodded to himself. He sighed and placed a hand on Mizuko's shoulder. "Come, there may be some clues around here." He spoke and slowly walked towards the corpses.

Mizuko breathed through her teeth and calmed down. She was a shinobi and a shinobi shouldn't be affected emotionally no matter how disgusting sight they find. The scarred girl nodded to Tenrai and both followed Naruto.

The crows that were feasting on the bodies took out into a flight with a loud screech when Naruto and his team approached. He briefly looked at the body of the man and found nothing of value on him, either everything was stolen or he didn't have anything in first place. Even though his face was a mess, he was able to notice general features.

His hair was short and light blue while his skin had a pale color from the lack of sun, a common feature with Water country's inhabitants. A quick look at the wounds gave him a general idea on what kind of weapon was used. "Short, one inch wide cuts and triangular holes from stabs… well we have general idea how the weapon looks like" He mused under his breath and with a quick move yanked out the pole that held the body in place.

The body landed on the ground with a slight thud and sound of more blood flowing out. Naruto dragged the body away from the tree to where Mizuko and Tenrai finished investigating the girl.

Tenrai looked confused at Naruto's actions before understanding what the boy wanted to do. "Found something unusual?" The brown haired boy asked.

Naruto wiped his hands from the blood and answered. "Light blue hair and pale skin, common feature for Water country's inhabitants, pale skin is probably from the lack of sun so I take the gamble at they are from Kiri. There was nothing of value at the body and weapon used was probably a thick spear." He explained. Mizuko and Tenrai gave him a nood of understanding and proceed with their own report.

"Girl was brutally raped. Her body features are the same like this man's, probably merchant a family traveling to or from Konoha." Mizuko explained grimly.

"There is not much left here, let's cremate the bodies and proceed with the mission." Tenrai said while the rest nodded. They placed the girl next to the man and lit the bodies on fire. Before the stench of burnt flesh could reach their noses, they walked away from the clearing.

Naruto gave a short glance over his shoulder to the now burning corpses and clenched his fists tightly. Those who did this would pay, he was sure of that.

Hyo watched their investigation closely. Their reactions were much, much better than he anticipated. He jumped down and caught up with the group quickly. They gave him short nods and continued their travel.

Several hours later, Team Eleven made it to a small village. Compared to Konoha it was tiny and rather plain. It was covered with three decent sized mountains from east, west and north, leaving only one way in and out of it.

What caught the team's eyes first was the gate to the town. It was large enough for a convoy to enter, but not oversized like Konoha's gates. There were signs of battle in front of the gate, which was reinforced like a garrison.

Before the team approached the gate, they removed their masks and bandanas revealing their allegiance to Konoha. Approaching the guarded gate undercover was rather stupid idea. Though, Hyo kept his mask on since his identity was to be remained unknown.

They walked up to the gate and were stopped by a giant of a man whose face was hidden under a helm and was holding something a kin to a halberd. He was standing on top of a platform next to the gate, an improvised watchtower of some sorts. "Stop right there, who are you and what do you want here?" He shouted to the four.

Tenrai looked up and answered. "We are the shinobi of Konoha!" He shouted back pointing to his headband with Konoha's emblem engraved on it. "We are looking for some clues about recent bandit attacks, can you open the gate?"

The man narrowed his eyes before he turned around and started yelling at someone. A series of clicks and slides came to their ears and suddenly the gate opened slowly with a creak. The team of Konoha's shinobi entered the village as the gate behind them was closed up and barricaded again.

"I guess they encountered the bandits already." Naruto concluded.

Mizuko nodded. "Come on, let's look for some clues. Someone must know whereabouts of those bandits." She said and started walking deeper into the village, but Tenrai stopped her.

"We should split up. It'll make the information gathering easier." The brown haired teen offered.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Let's meet here in three hours." He said and the team agreed. Mizuko would check the town's inn and the few shops that are here, Naruto would ask the local militia while Tenrai would try and talk with the mayor.

Without another word the trio split up and left Hyo alone. The man stood there impassively before he headed towards an inn to get some sleep. His presence wasn't important at the moment and he was sure that the team would handle themselves.

Three hours later the three shinobi from Leaf met up in front of the gate. The sun that was already behind the tree lines gave off a faint orange glow. It wasn't long before the darkness would fall over the mining village.

Mizuko, Tenrai and Naruto greeted each other with a simple nod. Tenrai was the first one to speak. "I've had an interesting talk with the mayor…" He began but was cut off by Mizuko who raised her hand.

"Let's find a place to sleep first, and then we'll talk." She said and started walking towards the middle of the village. Naruto shook his head and with a sigh followed her.

Mizuko guided them into an inn she was in when she looked for information. It was a rather large unnamed inn that could easily fit a hundred of people. The only larger building in the town was the mayor's building.

The inn was a built with wood and stone combined. It wasn't painted and was dirty from all the dust that was floating around. The inside was a spacious mess hall with tables everywhere. A long counter that was made from oak wood was running along the east wall. Next to the west wall were narrow wooden stairs that lead into the second floor. In the middle of the mess hall was a large fire place that had a large boar roasted above the fire.

Overall the inn was a decent place. The working hours have ended recently and the place was flooded with workers. The smell of booze and roasted meat filled the air. It wasn't an intensive smell, because the windows were opened that let the fresh air come in.

Out of curiosity, Naruto closed his eyes and used his Pesquisa to count how many people were inside. As soon as his Reiryoku flowed out of his body he felt every living signature in the area. He limited his range to the radius of the inn. He felt some signatures that were weaker than the others that were either animals or insects. He counted down forty six persons along with himself. Three particular signatures were familiar to him, namely Mizuko and Tenrai who were standing next to him and Hyo's signature above on the second floor.

Mizuko saw that Naruto's eyes were closed and had a focused look on his face. She raised an eyebrow in curiosity and nudged Naruto's side with her elbow, disrupting his concentration. "Come on Naruto, I got us a room when I was here earlier." She said and walked towards the stairs.

Tenrai was looking hungrily at the boar that was being roasted at the fireplace. Naruto felt his stomach growl and demand the food so he couldn't resist either. A single nod to Tenrai was enough. The duo grinned and moved towards the counter. In this moment, food was more important than a team meeting… at least that is what they thought.

"Where the hell were you two?!" Mizuko yelled. Saying that she was pissed was an understatement. The last hour she spent waiting for her two stupid teammates in a room she had rented.

"We were…" Tenrai tried to explain but was cut off by his team leader.

"I don't care! Since you're here already, let's get this over with. I'm hungry, tired and pissed off." She complained. "And where the hell is Hyo-sensei?"

"Hyo-sensei is six rooms from here. He had been here for at least an hour now." Naruto said getting curious looks from his team.

Tenrai was first to ask. "How do you know that?" He said and Mizuko nodded.

Naruto sheepishly scratched back of his head and tried to come up with an answer. "Uh, I haven't told you that I'm an exceptional sensor?"

Mizuko and Tenrai stared at him with deadpanned expressions. "I guess not." Naruto groaned.

"You should have told us earlier, now back to the point. What did you found out?" The white haired team leader asked for the information they gathered earlier in the town.

Naruto was the first one to answer. "I've been talking with the militia that had been formed here to keep the bandits away. The bandits were active here for over a month and a half. From what militia knows, those bandits are not some regular highwaymen, but hired mercenaries."

An unease silence came down on the trio. "The mayor told me the same, they aren't fighting like standard bandits we would find around, they are skilled ronins and it is possible that there is a single shinobi who is leading them." Tenrai added his two cents.

"What did you found out?" Naruto asked his female teammate.

"I've been talking with a caravan guard. He told me the possible amount of mercenaries and where their camp is." She began and got a grim look on her face. "You remember the two bodies we found on our way here?"

Tenrai and Naruto nodded, already knowing where this was going to. "They were part of the caravan. They disappeared over night two days ago when the caravan took a stop." Mizuko finished.

"What are the numbers?" Tenrai asked

"That is the problem. There is approximately thirty ronins plus a possible shinobi who we don't know anything about." She said and pulled out a map of the Fire country she had in her pouch. She placed it on the ground and unfolded it. "This is our location." She placed a finger on a small circle that indicated a village. "And this is where their camp should be." She traced her finger towards east and stopped on the place where two rivers met.

Naruto frowned when he noticed the neighboring land. "That is extremely close to Wave country." The distance between the area where the mercenaries should be and the Wave country was around twenty miles.

Mizuko nodded. "Since there are so many mercenaries we might be forced to use our chakra…" She pondered on what to do when Tenrai beat her to it.

"Guerilla tactics should do fine. A head on attack is suicidal." He concluded.

Naruto groaned. "That would take a week, isn't there any other way?"

"We could wait for them to attack this village and then battle them, but the casualties would be inevitable so guerilla is the safest way to go. However, if we're lucky then the mercenaries aren't as aware as we think. So with a good tactic we might be done in three days tops." Mizuko said. Tenrai nodded but something concerned him.

"If they are mercenaries for hire, who hired them and why?" The brown haired boy asked. Mercenaries wouldn't stick together and attack random villages because they wanted to, someone was there pulling the strings.

"No idea, except the caravans no one leaves this village so no one knows." Mizuko answered and rolled up the map before stashing it in her pouch. "Let's get some sleep, we're moving out at seven am." She finished and crashed down on a bed.

Tenrai did the same on another bed, but Naruto walked towards the window when he got an idea. "I have something to do. I'll be back before the midnight." He said with and without waiting for the answer he opened the window and jumped through it.

While he was mid-air he used his Sonido and disappeared with sound of static. Naruto appeared on top of a building for a second and disappeared again, moving at high speeds through the village. He reached the gate quickly and jumped over it without a single noise and headed to the forest.

After a minute of using his Sonido he stopped and crouched down. He bit his thumb and ran through hand seals required for a summoning technique. "Kuchiyose no jutsu." He whispered and placed the bottom of his palm on the ground, creating a large cloud of smoke in progress.

He stood up and waited for the smoke to disappear, which it did after few seconds. Where before was nothing but grass and dirt, now stood there three human sized panthers. The one to the left was Aoshima with her black fur and a blue stripe on her back. In the middle was a white and black furred panther that went by name Hiro. The one to the right was a panther with grey fur on its head and black fur on the rest of its body. It had four vertical scars on its face and a black eye patch on the left eye.

The scarred panther was the first to speak. "We'll look here! Isn't it our Naruto? What do you need buddy?" The black furred panther spoke with a masculine, amused voice.

Naruto's face split into a grin. "Good to see you again Kurotsume. I need your help guys."

"Oh? And what is that you need help with?" Hiro asked.

"There is a large band of mercenaries. I need you three to locate their camp and if possible, discreetly hunt few of them down." He explained and told them the possible area of mercenaries' whereabouts.

"You're coming with us?" Aoshima asked, but Naruto shook his head.

"I'm a bit tired and this is your fun. I'll summon one of you tomorrow at seven am. Good luck guys!" He said and got growls of understandings. The three deadly predators disappeared from his sight as if the shadows swallowed them.

He grinned when he saw that. Aoshima, Hiro and Kurotsume were his favorite panthers. They loved hunting and fighting as much as he did, we're fun to talk with and were experts at guerilla warfare. Something that was required this mission.

_'I have to admit, the damn Sage did a good job with the panthers.' _Naruto heard Grimmjow speak.

_'Yeah, especially with those three.' _The blue haired teen agreed and started walking back to the village. _'So what do we do tonight?'_

_'We'll do more training with Pantera. I want you to achieve Resurrection in tops three years.'_ Naruto stumbled when he heard that and nearly fell down on the ground.

_'Three years! Isn't that a bit of overkill?' _He asked. Grimmjow had explained and even showed what a Resurrection was. If their assumptions were correct, then Naruto would be able to face even a pissed off bijuu in that form.

Grimmjow grinned once again. _'I'm dead serious brat. You're the Child of Prophecy. Therefore you need a boost in power as soon as possible.'_

Naruto's face took a grim expression when he mentioned the prophecy. Grimmjow told him about it a week after he made his presence known. The panthers were into it as well. The blue haired boy decided stay quiet as he headed into the inn where his team probably was already asleep.

He leaped over the gate and jumped skillfully through the rooftops and into the inn's room through the window. His teammates woke up as soon as he walked through the frame, but relaxed and went back to sleep when they noticed at that was only Naruto.

Without another thought Naruto crashed down onto the bed to begin yet another night training session with Grimmjow.

The next day, Team Eleven was up and running as soon as clock hit six am. Tenrai was doing some stretches while Mizuko chewed on a large bit of dry meat. Naruto on the other hand was found sitting on the bed, sorting through his equipment and waiting till his teammates were finished.

Mizuko walked up to him and sat next to him. "Where were you yesterday?" She asked curiously.

Naruto closed the pouch that held his equipment and with swift movement attached it onto his left thigh. "Wouldn't you want to know?" He grinned when he saw the annoyed look on Mizuko's face. "I had my summons run few errands for us."

The scarred girl looked at him with interest. "And what errand if I can know?"

Naruto rolled his eyes and bit his thumb to draw blond and then ran through the hand seals required for the summoning technique. He placed his palm on the floor and whispered the name of technique. "Kuchiyose no jutsu."

With a small cloud of smoke appeared the black panther, Kurotsume. Mizuko raised her eyebrow and was about to ask about it when Naruto beat her to it.

"Yo, Kuro." Naruto greeted the scarred panther.

The panther gave a low growling chuckle. "What's up Naruto? I guess you summoned me for the report." Kurotsume asked.

Mizuko was even more curious, what kind of report?

Naruto turned to Mizuko and explained. "I had my summons track down the mercenaries' camp and if possible take few of them down." He explained.

Tenrai was watching closely but decided to not say a thing. Kurotsume nodded to Mizuko, confirming Naruto's plan. "Yeah, we've got their position pinpointed. Hiro and Ao managed to ambush two thugs, but rest was too close to the camp."

Mizuko nodded. "Do you know how many of them are there?" She asked with serious face.

"About thirty-two, thirty with those two we got yesterday." Kurotsume said and continued. "Their camp is in rather open area, a lot of possible ways to take them down."

Naruto raised his hand to halt Kurotsume's explanation. "Did you spot any shinboi?" He asked about the most crucial part of reconnaissance

"No, there are only mercenary ronins. Not much but they seems skilled enough. There was one samurai that looked like a captain though." Kurotsume answered.

Mizuko sighed in relief "Can you take us there?"

The human-sized panther nodded its head. "Sure I do."

"Then let's go. Hyo-sensei, you're coming with us?" Naruto said and turned his head to the wall. After a second, Hyo's body melted through the wall. Mizuko smirked when Naruto used his sonar abilities.

"So you're really a sonar type, that's convenient." Hyo began speaking. "Yes, I will be coming with you but I will only intervene if shit hits the fan."

Tenrai grinned and decided to speak up for the first time. "Wouldn't have it another way, do we?" Naruto nodded with a smirk.

"Alright, let's go then. I'll summon you when we're outside the village." Naruto said and the panther disappeared with a cloud of smoke.

The three members of Team Eleven exchanged few looks and put their masks and bandanas on to hide their features. Then they exited the room through the window, quickly making their way through the freshly awoken village.

As soon as they exited the village Naruto summoned Kurotsume. The panther said nothing but began running at moderate pace, with Team Eleven following it.

After an hour of running at average speed, the panther stopped. They were on a small hill that provided a good view on the large field below it. In a large clearing, next to the place where two rivers met was a decent sized encampment. Twenty medium sized tents with two slightly larger on the south side of the camp.

"So how do we do it?" Tenrai whispered.

Kurotsume turned to Naruto. "Summon Hiro, Ao and few others, we'll surround the camp and made sure no one comes in or out."

Naruto nodded and used his summoning technique. A large cloud of smoke that was hid behind the hill appeared, revealing two dozens of human sized panthers. Mizuko was flabbergasted by the sheer amount of predators standing in front of them, most having either white, grey, black or blue colors and some of them had visible battle scars.

Kurotsume jumped in front of them. "Brothers and sisters." He greeted them with a respectful nod which was returned by the panthers. "Behind this hill is a camp full of mercenaries, our objective is to surround it from the tree line and make sure no one enters or escapes alive. Move out!" The black panther ordered and the panthers quickly scattered to take their positions.

Tenrai managed to find his words after few seconds of daze. "Well that solves the problem of the runaways.

"Damn right it does." Naruto added with a grin so wide, that it was visible through the cloth on his face.

Mizuko motioned them to come closer, which they did. "We'll start hunting them down during nighttime. Until then I'll be setting up traps in key location. Naruto," she said getting his attention. "They are still sleeping so you will sneak to the two larger tents in the south. I suspect at there is their food storage."

"What do you want me to do with it?"

Mizuko gave off an evil smirk that was hidden under her mask. "Why, poison it of course." She said and unsealed two small pouches full of powder. She handed it to Naruto and explained it. "It is a slow acting poison. It takes ten hours to start working. The poison will weaken them and that will make our job easier. If there are crates with food, just simply throw the pouch on the ground. But be careful to not inhale it."

Naruto nodded and the pouch. "I'll try not to." Mizuko then turned to Tenrai.

"You will stay here and observe them. When you see something unusual do the bird's screech. We'll come here as fast as we can." She finished and turned around. "Dismissed." Added Mizuko and headed for the tree line.

Naruto nodded to Tenrai and headed for the storage tents. His hunting experience with his summons taught him how to stalk the prey without being detected. Since humans were less aware beings than animals, the task of sneaking into the camp was much easier.

The task was simple. The two tents that were possibly storages were on the edge of the encampment. Naruto carefully walked down the hill. The sun was above the hill which gave Naruto an advantage. He would not be seen because of the blinding sun.

The sneaking teen managed to get close to the first tent undetected. He quickly used his Pesquisa to detect any threats inside. Fortunately, there was no one in this tent. However, in the next storage tent were two signatures. Most of the camp was quiet, but some mercenaries were already awake. He had to act quickly.

Naruto slipped quietly into the tent and looked around. The inside was dark and with many crates. The crates in the front were open and revealed different kinds of wood. Dry meat, fruits, bread, cheese and cans filled with water.

He swiftly walked up to them and took out the pouch that held the poisonous powder. He threw it on the ground and the pouch made a silent popping noise. The powder exploded from the pouch and Naruto had to close his eyes so the poison won't damage his eyes. Using his sonar ability he found his way out of the tent.

By now, the second tent was already empty. However, he heard much noise from the camp and knew that he had to act quickly. He swiftly wmoved into the second tent but was surprised about what he found there.

Instead of food as he thought, there was an entire arsenal of weapons and equipment. In the crates were steel wires, blades, spears and armors. Everything prepared for shipping. Naruto saw a large black crate that stood out from the rest and decided to investigate.

He opened the box and a devious grin appeared on his face when an idea popped into his mind. _'Now that will be fun' _He thought. The black crate was filled up with explosive tags to the brim. Naruto placed his palm on the top of the tags and let his chakra seep into the tags. By doing so he was able to set them off.

Seeing at there was nothing else, Naruto closed the crate and exited the tent. He was pleased with his own job. For his first infiltration mission he did very well.

He made his way up the hill where Tenrai was observing the camp.

"So what was in those tents?" Tenrai questioned his teammate. The devious glint in his eyes made his eyebrow rise in interest.

Naruto sat down and chuckled. "Except for now poisoned food and a large crate of explosive tags that I can set off anytime now, nothing else." He pulled down his mask and took a ration bar that Tenrai handed to him. He took a bite and flinched slightly at the disgusting taste. "Man, I should take some of their food when I was there, this shit tastes like, well, shit." Naruto whined.

Tenrai nodded and resumed observing the tent. "Now we need to wait for Mizuko. We'll strike at the sunset." He said and then narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure you can handle the stress?"

Naruto stopped eating his ration bar. "What stress?" He questioned.

Tenrai sighed. "Stress of killing another. Are you sure that you can handle it? Taking someone's like isn't a pleasure." He asked, genuinely concerned. The stress that comes after killing someone was one of the main reasons many fresh shinobi quit the career. Tenrai himself almost quit when he killed for first time. Heck, after Tanzo's and Tsumura's death, Tenrai almost had a mental breakdown.

Naruto thought about it for a second. He knew that with Grimmjow's influence he would like fighting to death, but killing someone? Naruto shrugged his arms and avoided the question.

Tenrai rolled his eyes from his carefree teammate and continued observing the camp down below.

_'What do you think, Grimmjow?'_ Naruto asked his tenant.

Grimmjow was quiet for a moment, but in the end answered. _'Honestly, I have no idea, brat. I've been killing in the past because I needed to survive so I don't know how it will affect you.' _He said and paused for a second, thinking about what was to come. _'But if you get scared by fucking killing someone tonight, I'll personally get out of here and fuck you up, got it?"_

Naruto almost shivered at the threat, but never the less agreed. _'Thanks.' _He said and didn't wait for an answer.

The day was almost up. The sun was settling down and Mizuko came back for few hours ago. She managed to put the traps in key locations in case someone escaped. And if traps didn't work, well, there were predators waiting for them in the dark.

When Naruto told Mizuko about the explosive tags, she was giddy. For some reason, Naruto suspected that the girl had a hidden love for explosions, but he didn't dare to say that out loud.

The shadows started to get longer and longer, until the night's blanket of darkness covered the entire area. That was when Mizuko decided that it was time to act. "We're beginning the operation." She said solemnly and walked towards the edge of the hill. Naruto and Tenrai followed her and looked at the camp below the hill. In the middle of the camp was a medium sized bonfire, the only source of light. The moon tried to get out of the cloud's grasp, but it seemed that nature itself decided to help Konoha's shinobi.

"Finally, let's get this over with." Naruto whispered and the trio exchanged glances. Their dark grey outfits provided great camouflage in the night, while their sharpened senses allowed them to move easily in the dark.

Their plan was to engage from south, east and west and then move towards the northern part of the camp. It wasn't really a direct engage, but a discrete assassinations along the way. The trio agreed to stay away from the storage tent, so if shit hit the fan Naruto would set the tags off to create the required diversion. In the chaos they would do one of two things. Engage the mercenaries if there weren't many left, or use the explosion as a cover and escape the camp.

Naruto had south, Mizuko east and Tenrai had western side. Without another word they split and quickly, skillfully moved towards their respective targets.

Team eleven was on the prowl, the hunt had begun.

Naruto noticed that the mercenaries were either asleep or sitting by the bonfire. No one was taking the watch. The idiots were arrogant enough to think that they wouldn't be attacked by anyone.

He lifted the material of the first tent and entered it. There was a single man, sleeping on a chair. Due to Naruto's heightened senses could see the man's features. He was around thirty years old, his scalp was bald and his beard was messy brown in color.

Naruto felt excitement. This would be his first kill in his life time and the boy could help but wonder how it would feel.

He walked behind the man and with a quick movement of his arms snapped the man's neck and let go of his head. A quiet 'snap' noise was heard as the man's eyes shot open for a second before his head slumped down. He died unaware of what happened to him.

As Naruto took in his first life, he felt nothing. Absolutely nothing, he felt no grief, no sorrow, no pity, no anger or sadness. His emotions were perfectly in check, but he didn't understand why he didn't feel anything. From what Tenrai and Mizuko told him, he would feel disgusted when he killed someone. Instead, he felt excitement.

That wasn't right.

_'It might be another trait from me, or you are so fucking careless that you don't care about that.' _Grimmjow explained with grim tone in his voice. When he had taken his first kill back in Hueco Mundo as a consciously aware Hollow, he didn't feel any grief. The need to survive was much, much greater than need to worry about such mundane things.

_'It doesn't matter now, at least I can do my job properly now.' _Naruto answered and clenched his fist. He used his Pesquisa to check if anyone was closing in. Thankfully, no one was heading towards the tent.

Naruto felt his teammates move around the camp, entering and exiting the tents where dead bodies laid. He counted the amount of mercenaries remaining and frowned. Each of his teammates got at least three kills already. _'I can't afford to stay behind.'_ He thought. A toothy grin split his face under the mask.

Tenrai was slowly making his way through the camp. They couldn't have chosen better moment to strike. Only six bandits were awake and by the bonfire, while the rest was sleeping in their tents. He already had four deaths on his account when he noticed Naruto in the corner of his sight.

His blue haired teammate entered a tent and Tenrai watched. Fifteen seconds later Naruto emerged from it and headed for another one. Inwardly sighing in relief Tenrai wiped the blood of his kunai and walked towards the next tent. It seemed that Naruto handled the stress well enough.

Mizuko on the other hand was already at her ninth kill. The last tent she visited had three thugs sleeping there. She needed to handle them silently, so she decided to go with classical kunai to the base of the neck. Being stabbed in the neck resulted in almost immediate death, with no spare time to scream.

She couldn't help but worry about Naruto. It was his first killing after all. She exited the tent and was about to enter the last one in the north when Naruto emerged from it. Her reflexes kicked in and almost stabbed her teammate. She sighed in relief and looked at Naruto. Opposite of Mizuko, he had no signs of blood on him.

Naruto almost reacted the same way but stopped himself in time. He had already killed seven men and he could feel seven other signatures in the camp. Five being the mercenaries in the middle of the camp and the other two were his teammates.

They noticed that Tenrai was slowly closing in. His eyes locked on Naruto and Mizuko before the girl motioned them to come closer.

The two obeyed and listened to her. "I've killed nine, you?" She whispered.

Naruto answered immediately. "Eight."

If Tenrai was surprised, he hid it very well. "I've got six." He answered with a whisper.

Mizuko nodded and turned to Naruto. "How many are remaining?"

Naruto closed his eyes and used his Pesquisa. He opened them and answered. "Five remaining, one left the camp. The panthers should take care of him."

The team leader nodded. "Here is what we'll do, an all-out surprise attack on the five in the middle. Leave one alive, we need to interrogate him." She said and got nods of understanding in return.

They surrounded the bonfire and were prepared for the attack. Just before they engaged they heard a scream in the woods that quickly died down. Naruto cursed and leaped with his katana drawn when he heard Mizuko do a cricket's noise, signaling to attack.

However, the short scream that came from the forest was enough for the mercenaries to notice that something was wrong. Four of them managed to unsheathe their blades and deflect the incoming attacks. One of them wasn't that lucky though as Tenrai pierced his spine with his Tanto.

The four mercenaries quickly jumped into defensive formation and eyed their opponents. They couldn't see much because they were entirely clothed in dark suits.

A man in brown leather armor and an expensive looking katana cursed when he noticed that their enemies were shinobi. "Who the fuck are you!" He yelled angrily. His men were standing straight with their own blades drawn.

Naruto looked him dead in the eyes and growled. "I'm your death." He solemnly said.

A large man with black hair that was illuminated by the bonfire swung his katana at Mizuko. The girl jumped out of the way as Naruto appeared in front of him, deflecting the incoming attack.

Mizuko threw her kunai at the man that fought Tenrai. However, the man noticed the incoming projectile just in time and sidestepped, successfully avoiding the deadly weapon.

Tenrai fought against one enemy, while Mizuko and Naruto fought against the other three. The brown haired shinobi ducked under a rather sluggish swing and tried to knock the blade away. However, the man's grip was too tight to let the weapon simply fly away.

Naruto was hard pressed fighting two men at once. He couldn't use his Chakra unless it was absolutely necessary. He avoided a kick to his stomach by jumping backwards. Mizuko managed to push her opponent off her and joined Naruto. The duo stared at the three mercenaries for a while.

Mizuko tilted her head to Naruto. "I'm going to use them, try to avoid the crossfire."

Naruto nodded and loosened his stance. "This is going to be good." He said and wasn't disappointed.

The three mercenaries stood close to each other. If they were confused by Mizuko hiding her kunai, they didn't show it. The girl reached forward with her arms and flicked her wrists.

Suddenly, the steel wire that was wrapped around her wrists unfolded itself and launched towards the thugs at high speeds. It seemed as if invisible force guided the wires, but the truth was that her skillful movements with her fingertips used the entire strength that was stored in her arms.

Naruto saw this technique earlier and couldn't help but be amazed each time he saw it.

The leader of the mercenary band noticed the hardly visible steel reflect the light from bonfire and dodged, dragging one of his comrades by his arm with him. The third wasn't that lucky. He stood under wrong angle that haven't allowed him to see the incoming wires in time. His right arm was literally ripped off by the wires, rendering him useless. As soon as the limb was severed, another wire cut through his face and ripped off the flesh.

The man's agonizing screams were terrifying. The two remaining mercenaries shivered in horror at the sight of their quickly bleeding out comrade. "You fucking bitch, I'll murder you!" The mercenary who fought Tenrai yelled in anger. However, the man lost sight of his shinobi opponent when he tried to dash towards Mizuko.

The brown haired shinobi appeared behind the angry mercenary and stabbed his Tanto below the mercenary's left shoulder blade, piercing the heart in the progress.

Sound of gurgling blood came from his throat as his body went limp and fell on the ground lifelessly. Tenrai grimaced and extracted his Tanto from dead man's back.

He looked to where Naruto and Mizuko were fighting, easily overpowering their opponents. He saw Naruto block an attack and throw his katana from his left hand to his right, taking the opponent off guard. He slashed upwards, creating a deep gash on his abdomen.

If that wasn't enough, he heard quiet footsteps and a large, black furred panther jumped on the injured man's back, sinking its teeth in his neck. The man's neck snapped under the sheer force of the predator's jaw, killing him immediately.

The brown, leather clad man looked around and his eyes widened when he noticed that he was surrounded by three shinobi and half a dozen of human-sized panthers. Knowing that his chances of survival were slim, he dropped his weapon and raised his arms up. "I surr-" He tried to speak, but a blue panther jumped on his back and pinned him to the ground, growling into the man's ear.

The entire assassination of the mercenaries and the fight with the few survivors merely lasted for fourteen minutes. Mizuko wrapped her steel wires back on her wrists and pulled down her mask, sighing in relief that the fight was over. She turned to the man and kneeled down to him. "Who hired you?" She questioned.

The man tried to move, but the panther's weight that was pressed on his back was way too great. "G-Gato did." He managed to gasp out.

Naruto frowned, so did the rest of his team. "Isn't he that multimillionaire shipment chef?" He questioned.

"Y-Yes, he wants to secure Wave's borders." He answered.

"That would explain why we are so close to Wave." Tenrai concluded. That made sense.

"What were the crates for?" Naruto suddenly asked. There were enough weapons stored in that tent for a small army.

"W-We were s-supposed t-to transport them to Wave in a w-week." The downed mercenary answered.

Mizuko nodded. "Do you know anything else?" The man shook no to the disappointment of the group.

"Fine, you can kill him." Mizuko said and the man's eyes widened in shock. Before he could beg for mercy the blue panther's fangs were in his neck, snapping it like a stick.

"Well that was fun." Naruto said as he stretched his arms. Mizuko turned to him in shock and asked.

"Are you serious? Aren't you troubled with killing?"

Naruto shook his head. "Not really, you said that I would be disgusted with killing, but I didn't feel anything, no grief, no sorrow, no anger and no bloodlust, just nothing. "

Tenrai stared at him in shock that faded away after few moments. Naruto just gave him thumbs up and assured him that he was okay. Then Naruto turned to his panther summons. "Thanks a lot for help guys." The panthers chuckled and the black panther, Kurotsume spoke.

"Don't mind it. Just remember to hunt with us this month, see ya kitten!" The panther laughed and disappeared with the others in a cloud of smoke.

A tick mark appeared on Naruto's forehead when he heard that annoying tittle again. Grimmjow was howling with laughter and Naruto's team snickered. However, they stopped when they heard sound of clapping.

They turned around and saw Hyo walking towards them. "Hyo-sensei!" Mizuko shouted with a smile.

Hyo nodded to her and smiled under his mask. "Well done." He simply said and reached to his pouch. The masked ROOT Anbu took out a sealing scroll and unsealed its insides. Ironically, in the sealing scroll were many other sealing scrolls. "Now let's ransack this place, Konoha would make a good use with those weapons that man spoke of." He finished and threw several scrolls to the trio.

They nodded and walked off into the darkness, searching the tents for anything of value. After an hour, three winded genins were sitting in front of Hyo who sealed up the sealing scrolls. _'Damn that's convenient.'_ Naruto thought. He knew the theory behind sealing scrolls. After all, the Yondaime Hokage was renowned for his skills in fuinjutsu, therefore the basics of fuinjutsu were taught in the last year of academy.

"Now," Hyo began, drawing their attention to him. "I've been visited by the hawk-messenger. We won't be going back to Konoha yet."

"Why is that?" Mizuko asked.

"Team Seven requested reinforcements. Conveniently they are in Wave now, so we're moving out now." He finished and waited for their reactions.

"Isn't Team Seven Hatake's team with both Hokage's daughter and the last Uchiha?" Mizuko asked. They had a general knowledge about actual gennin teams in Konoha, so it wasn't surprising that Mizuko knew all that.

Hyo solemnly nodded. "Yes, they were attacked by an A-ranked missing-nin, Momochi Zabuza. Hatake is currently incapacitated and they requested reinforcements. Since we are the only team dispatched near Wave, our job is to help them."

Naruto snickered. "We will be allowed to use our chakra though?" He asked.

Hyo nodded once again. "Yes, I will be fighting too. You had read about Zabuza from the bingo book?"

The three genins nodded. "Good then, let's go. If we kick up the tempo we should be there before noon." He said and started running in Wave's direction with his team close.

* * *

**There you go. Next chapter begins the Wave arc. Naruto's team will have different 'canon' in this story (I'm not sure how to say that), but it will be intertwined with the original canon. Akiho, Sasuke and Sakura will be progressing faster than the canon Naruto, but their enemies will be stronger as well. **

**Yes, Zabuza will be strong enough to fight both Hyo and Kakashi at once. **

**What do you think about the 'hunt'? Did you like the fight?**

**Oh, and the links to pictures of Akiho and Naruto are on my profile**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi there people, sorry for so late update, but I couldn't find any spare time for writing. But here it is! **

**Dislaimer: I do not own Naruto nor Bleach.**

**Posted 27.02.2013**

* * *

Kakashi groaned as he tried to stand up. The past few days were a total mess. First, his team was assigned for a first C-ranked mission. It was supposed to be a simple escort missions to land of Waves, but as it is in the Shinobi world, shit quickly hit the fan.

What happened? Their client, an old drunk named Tazuna who was a famous bridge architect lied to them about the mission, because the Wave couldn't afford any higher ranked mission. When they were halfway from Konoha, team Seven was ambushed by two chunin missing-nin from Kirigakure no Sato, namely the Demon Brothers.

Two heavily armored shinobi who favored poisions and ambushes. However, their genjutsu was not their forte. Hatake Kakashi quickly spotted a puddle of water that was on the road and exposed to sunlight. Considering that there was no rain in two weeks, it was quite obvious that it was a trap.

Instead of quickly dealing with the threat, Kakashi decided to test his genin's teamwork. When he walked past the puddle, the two infamous Kiri rogue shinobi leaped from the primitive cover and engaged Kakashi, successfully shredding him to pieces with their chain. Or so they thought. As soon as they were done with the jonin they proceed to assassinate Tazuna.

A pink haired member of team Seven yelled in fear and disbelief when she saw her sensei killed by the chain. Thankfully, her teammates had heads on their shoulders.

Sasuke threw three kunai towards the Demon Brothers, catching the chain and pinning it to a tree and quickly followed it with a decent fire-ball technique. The two brothers quickly got rid of the chain, sidestepped the slow fire-ball and proceed with the assassination attempt, but their plan was foiled when they found themselves paralyzed and unable to move.

The reason was Akiho. That girl had her ever-present scroll open on the ground, revealing a whole load of seal arrays. While Sasuke distracted their ambushers, Akiho skillfully placed a paralysis barrier around the two shinobi.

Due to short amount of time to place the seals, Akiho had to resort with a weaker, though much faster type of barrier. It was strong enough to keep the two shinobi frozen for fifteen seconds. Long enough for Sasuke to knock one out and restrain the other.

That was when Kakashi entered the scene. He had replaced himself with a nearby log when the Demon Brothers leaped out from the puddle. The scarecrow was pleased with Akiho's and Sasuke's performance, but was displeased with Sakura's. He would have to get rid of that fan-girl attitude of hers.

After a quick interrogation they found out that the two Demon Brothers were hired by a multimillionaire shipment chef, Gato and that their target was Tazuna. A short confrontation with the old architect was needed before Tazuna spilled his guts. They found out that the Wave country was under Gato's control.

Under normal circumstances they would have abandoned the mission and leave the man to his death. However, that was not the case as the Yondaime Hokage suspected a third party that controlled the Wave and thus if things got out of hand Kakashi would resort to reinforcements.

And indeed he called for reinforcements few hours later. If he thought that the sole presence of Demon Brothers was troublesome, the enemy they had stumbled upon was much worse.

Soon after they arrived on the west shore of Wave, team Seven was engaged by the infamous Demon of the Mist. An A-ranked rogue shinobi who had rather bloody past. The man not only was a master when it came to silent-killing techniques, but was also an ex-member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, the elite of elite from Kirigakure no Sato.

Every member had a bloody reputation and wielded a sword that was imbued with impressive amounts of seals when they were crafted. The weapon Zabuza wielded was named 'Kubikiribocho', the 'Head Decapitator'. It was a large broadsword, nearly five feet long and sixteen inches wide.

That blade was known for its durability and sharpness. It could easily cut through a boulder, and if it the blade was ever damaged, blood was enough to fix it up.

What was frightening about the blade, was that it would repair any damages or dullness just by seeping the iron out from blood of enemies it cut through. Even if it was broken at the handle it would repair itself.

Team Seven was on their way to Tazuna's house when Kakashi heard a bone chilling whistle of steel piercing the air. He quickly warned his team and told them to duck. Kakashi tackled Tazuna while Akiho did the same to oblivious Sakura.

The Kubikiribocho sliced the air above their heads and embedded itself in a tree, nearly cutting it in half. Two seconds later, a man with no eyebrows, lower face and midsection of his abdomen covered by bandages and baggy pants with black and white camouflage.

He let out a short chuckle and requested the shinobi to hand over Tazuna, which they obviously denied. Shortly after that, Zabuza began his personal technique he was famous - or rather, infamous - for, namely the Kirigakure no jutsu. The whole area was covered by thick mist that was enchanted with chakra that obscured the sight.

Kakashi ordered his team to cover Tazuna while he dealt with Zabuza. However, when Kakashi and Zabuza eyed each other, the genins felt immense tension in the air. It was such a frightening feeling that chilled their bones. The sheer amount of bloodlust that came from the Kiri jonin was so high that it almost caused the genins to commit suicide, just to get away from that feeling.

Thankfully, they heard Kakashi's voice that assured them that he would protect them no matter what. That was enough to break the tension and let Hatake focus on Zabuza.

Their engaged in a fight, Zabuza with his giant cleaver-blade against Kakashi's enchanted kunai. Hatake's kunai was enchanted with seals, improving its durability greatly. It was durable enough to not be pierced by the giant cleaver of Zabuza's.

Both jonins were at a stalemate. That was until Kakashi made a grave mistake of underestimating his opponent. When the two reached the lake, Zabuza trapped Kakashi in his technique, a water prison that consisted of super-heavy water that restricted Kakashi's movements.

The technique had a major flaw though as Zabuza had to keep his arm inside the dome of water to keep the technique stable and prevent Kakashi from escaping. However, he had water clones at his disposal against the three brats, 'who didn't even know what it takes to be a shinobi' as Zabuza said.

His water clones engaged the three genins and Kakashi ordered his team to escape. They had no chances against an elite shinobi. However, the genins reminded him of his own rule that stated at 'Those who abandon their mission are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.'

With that, Sasuke and Akiho came up with a plan to rescue Kakashi while Sakura protected Tazuna. Akiho launched an onslaught of shadow clones against Zabuza, but they were struck down by his own water clones. The fact that a mere genin could handle a forbidden technique, shadow clones no less surprised Zabuza, but what surprised him even more was the sheer amount of the clones.

While Akiho provided distraction, Sasuke hurled a large windmill shuriken at the real Zabuza. The man merely raised his cleaver and swatted the projectile away when he noticed another giant shuriken hidden in the shadow of the first one. The man quickly jumped upwards, letting the windmill shuriken fly below him.

However, that was what Sasuke expected. Zabuza was about to rant about their loss when he noticed a glint of steel wire. Sasuke had pulled his arm and a noise of steel stretching was heard. Zabuza's eyes widened when he heard the shuriken behind him dislocate itself and the parts of the shuriken almost pierced his abdomen.

Zabuza had cursed when he let go of the water prison to saw his hide. Kakashi immediately emerged from the water and engaged Zabuza. However, now he had removed the headband that covered his left eye, revealing the most infamous eye known in existence, the Sharingan.

Zabuza was suddenly at the disadvantage as Kakashi predicted his movements. His Sharingan let him read every single of the swordsman's movements. The fight on the lake ended in few minutes as Kakashi mimicked Zabuza's strongest water technique, the Water Dragon technique.

The missing-shinobi was freaked out when Kakashi seemed to read Zabuza's thoughts and was able to predict the future. Zabuza was injured when the much stronger water dragon slammed into him. However, before Kakashi could finish him off, three senbon needles were embedded in Zabuza's neck, killing him at the spot.

It seemed that a masked Kirigakure's hunter-nin watched the fight and thanked Kakashi for the help. The hunter-nin jumped down and retrieved Zabuza's body. That was when Kakashi noticed something disturbing about the hunter-nin. The Sharingan wielding shinobi felt his strength slipping away and quickly performed a summoning technique.

A small dog popped into the existence and Kakashi told him to travel to Konoha and request reinforcements for Team Seven and tell the Hokage that they encountered Momochi Zabuza. The dog nodded and rushed off to Konoha and soon later, Kakashi's consciousness slipped away.

Now Kakashi found himself sitting in a bed. He ran a hand through his hair and groaned when he attempted to stand up. The chakra exhaustion he got was nearly fatal, but thankfully he would survive. He wouldn't be able to fight in a week or so though.

He groaned once again when he stood up. _'I just hope that the reinforcements will arrive soon… Zabuza is still alive.' _He thought grimly. The hunter-nin that 'killed' the man was probably his accomplice. The senbon needles that were embedded in Zabuza's neck were aimed for his nerve system to put him in a near-death state.

Kakashi frowned as he mustered enough strength to walk. If his calculation were right, the chakra exhaustion and blunt damage along with the near-death state would disable Zabuza for at least three weeks, one and half week if he had a skilled medic at his disposal, so the safety margin should be around one and half week.

He slowly walked down the stairs and found his team resting in the dining room. He scooped around and noticed the absence of Akiho and Tazuna. Sakura noticed that their sensei was at the bottom of the stairs and her eyes lit up. "Kakashi-sensei!" She said with relief in her voice and rushed to her teacher.

Kakashi eye smiled at her. "I'm fine Sakura, how long was I out and where are Tazuna and Akiho?" He asked.

The first question was answered by a female voice next to him. "You were unconscious for two days Kakashi-san." Kakashi turned his head and noticed a dark blue haired woman in her mid-thirties. She was wearing an apron and was smiling gently. "I'm Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter."

"You were the one to bandage me up?" Kakashi asked to which the woman nodded. "Then I thank you for that." He eye smiled again.

Tsunami smiled back. "No, I should be the one to thank you. If not for you, my father would be dead." She finished and left the room.

"So, where are Akiho and Tazuna?" Kakashi asked.

Sasuke, who was sitting on the couch, answered that. "She's helping Tazuna with something in the backyard." The Uchiha answered with no care in his voice.

The masked jonin sighed at Sasuke's antics. Since he was still exhausted, Kakashi sat on a chair and pulled out his trusty, orange book. Kakashi quickly dived into the story, giggling here and then, never noticing how quickly hours went.

* * *

His reading was brutally interrupted when the book was snatched out from his hands by his auburn haired female genin, and got hit in his head with the orange book.

"Kakashi-sensei! If I see you with this smut again, I'll tell mom!" Akiho yelled and shoved his perverted book in his face.

Kakashi groaned as he rubbed the sore spot on his face and inwardly cursed Akiho's dislike towards perverts. In that light, she was pretty much as dangerous as her mother, Kushina.

"You didn't have to be so aggressive Akiho-chan." He muttered and hid his book from sight when he saw the flame in Akiho's eyes.

Akiho sighed and plopped down on the ground. "When will reinforcements arrive?" She muttered to herself. They were grounded until their help arrived. Kakashi was unable to fight and with Gato's presence it was too dangerous for genins to protect Tazuna without help of the jonin, or even worse, leave Tazuna alone on the bridge.

Kakashi was about to answer when as on cue they heard a knock on the front door. Sasuke's, Akiho's and Sakura's heads perked up and turned to the door. Kakashi stood up wobbly and walked to the doors. His team flanked him in case of something unexpected. He grabbed the door knob and twisted it, opening the doors.

He inwardly sighed in relief when he noticed Konoha's Anbu standing in front of him. Kakashi knew who that man was due to his captaincy in Anbu few years ago. "Hyo-san." He said mentioning the man and let him in.

Hyo nodded to him and walked inside. Kakashi closed the door behind him and noticed how tense was Sasuke and Akiho. "Don't worry. He's an Anbu from Konoha." Kakashi assured his team and turned to the masked Anbu. "I hoped for a larger squad, were dealing with Zabuza, his accomplice and a multimillionaire who is breathing down on our necks." Kakashi muttered.

Hyo merely looked around the room before answering, his eyes falling on the Uchiha that Danzo was interested in. "My team is securing the perimeter. They should be here in ten minutes." He assured the jonin.

"You want me to brief you on what happened or we'll wait for your team?" Kakashi asked and got a nod from Hyo. "Alright then."

"Kakashi-sensei, do you know him?" Kakashi heard Sakura ask. Akiho was curious as well as she was nearby while Sasuke gave a single huff before crashing down on a couch.

"I have been on several missions with this man few years ago. He was at my level back then, I don't know what about now." The scarecrow answered and turned to Hyo. "I hear rumors… that you are tutoring a team of genins, is that true?"

Hyo's lips curved upwards at the mention of his 'genin' team, though the smile was hidden under the mask. "Not genins, unofficial chunins."

Kakashi narrowed his one visible eye, he definitely didn't expect Minato to send an Anbu veteran and a team of chunins. "Unofficial chunins?" He questioned and got a simple nod without explanation from Hyo, which irritated Kakashi.

Hyo sensed that his team had arrived in front of the house. "You'll see in a moment." He said as he turned his head towards the door, Kakashi, Sakura and Akiho doing the same.

They saw three persons entering the house. Each one fully clad in dark grey outfits, masks and bandanas that hid their facial features as well as hair, leaving only eyes and bridge of their noses.

Akiho immediately recognized the blue markings under Naruto's eyes and her own widened a bit both in joy and surprise, as she was glad to meet her brother after almost a month. Ever since he gave up the name Namikaze, she hadn't seen him at all. Her parents assured her that he was alright as he way training with his team. However, Naruto's and his teammates' movements disturbed her slightly. They were wary, tense and their eyes scooped around taking in every detail.

"Naruto-kun?" She said, drawing everyone's attention to her and the teen she was staring at. Kakashi's eyes widened slightly as he recognized the blue markings under Naruto's eyes.

Tenrai barked with a laugh. Mizuko rolled her brown eyes. "Told you to cover those markings up, but no you didn't listen!" The girl said and turned to Hyo. "Hyo-sensei, the perimeter is secured. Naruto stationed his summons in area nearby while I and Tenrai put up quick-reaction recognition seals, so we can say that we are relatively safe."

Hyo nodded and turned to Kakashi, who at this moment noticed the few bloodstains on the dark grey outfits, but decided to leave it for later. "You can brief us." Hyo said, interrupting Kakashi's train of thoughts.

Kakashi nodded and proceed with detailed explanation. He told them everything for the moment they stepped outside Konoha's walls, their encounter with the Demon Brothers and Zabuza and everything else.

"So Zabuza is alive and obviously has accomplice, most probably a medic considering that he managed to place Zabuza in a near-death state." Mizuko concluded. Kakashi nodded, silently praising girl's intellect.

"Considering that Kakashi is unable to fight, I'll take the leadership. Anyone has objections?" Hyo asked. No one denied, though Kakashi seemed skeptical about it and was about to speak up. "Hatake, I'am higher in rank and you are injured, so your voice doesn't matter."

Kakashi closed his eye in frustration, but nodded after a moment and turned around. "I'll be upstairs, I'm tired." He said and wobbly walked up the stairs, heading to the guest bedroom.

Hyo noticed the old architect standing behind everyone with few scrolls under his arm and his daughter next to him and walked up to him. "Tazuna-san, it's a rather stupid idea to go to the bridge when sun is about to go down." Hyo said and eyed Tazuna through the mask. "Don't worry, we'll protect you."

Tazuna hesitantly nodded. "Thanks a lot." He said and walked back to the kitchen, dragging Tsunami with him.

Naruto noticed the stares Sasuke gave him, which irritated him to no end. "The fuck are you looking at, Uchiha?" He said and turned to Hyo. "Hyo-sensei, I request permission to go for a hunt overnight." He asked and got a nod from his masked teacher.

Naruto grinned under his mask and exited the house. Akiho watched him from a near window and her eyes sparkled with curiosity when she saw that Naruto summoned three human-sized panthers. The predators quickly took off into the forest with Naruto following not far behind.

Akiho turned to Naruto's teammates and asked. "Where did he go?"

"He owes his panthers a hunt, so obviously he's hunting, he should be back in the morning." Tenrai answered. "Though I hope they will only hunt on animals." He joked and got smacked by Mizuko.

"Stop joking around." Mizuko said and removed her bandana, revealing her white hair and then lowered her mask, revealing her face and three scars on her cheek. Tenrai did the same and walked to the kitchen with intention of getting something decent to eat. Hyo was nowhere to be found – again and Mizuko decided to talk with Akiho. "You are Namikaze-sama's daughter, Akiho, isn't it?" She asked the younger girl.

Akiho smiled brightly. "Yup! And you're?" She asked. She saw her in the academy a month ago when they were assigned to their teams, but couldn't place a finger on what her name was.

Mizuko smiled back at the girl. "Hasu Mizuko, pleasure to meet you Namikaze-sama." She introduced herself with a bow.

Akiho grimaced at the greeting. "Please no formalities, just call me Akiho." The girl said.

Mizuko nodded, surprised that a daughter of strongest shinobi to date was so humble. "So, Naruto was your brother?" She asked. That question definitely didn't sit well with Akiho, who narrowed her eyes.

"He is my brother. I don't care if he changed his surname. He's my brother and always will be no matter what he thinks." She answered with cold voice.

Mizuko raised an eyebrow and was about to say something when they heard Tenrai's voice from the kitchen. "This food is delicious!" The brown haired teen praised Tsunami's cooking, earning a loud laugh from Tazuna.

"This idiot…" Mizuko muttered and got a giggle from Akiho.

"So, Mizuko-chan, how long have you been a shinobi? I haven't seen you before and obviously you're older than me." Akiho asked, genuinely curious. Sakura seemed to be interested too as she gave up her attempts of talking with Sasuke and listened to the kunoichi's conversation

"Since age of eleven, two and half a year, I graduated year early with Tenrai." The white haired girl answered.

Akiho nodded and sat down on the floor, patting the space around her, motioning Mizuko and Sakura to sit down. The girls did so and Akiho introduced Sakura. "Mizuko-chan, this is Sakura-chan, my teammate."

Sakura gave her a wave and asked about something that she noticed since their reinforcements arrived at the house. "Your sensei said that you are unofficial chunins, but Naruto graduated with us and we're genins?"

Mizuko saw that question coming and had an answer ready. "We are skilled enough to take down an A-ranked shinobi together. Our rather unorthodox way of training along with our abilities places us high above genins in skill. The idea of making us a soon-to-be chunin team was Hokage-sama's idea." She answered, getting surprised look from Akiho.

"Tou-san mentioned that Naruto is an exceptional case, how strong is he?" She asked.

Mizuko thought about it for a second. "I haven't seen him go full out on us yet and he didn't go full out on us either during the training, only Hyo-sensei made him go full out, but he did it when we weren't around. From what I saw already I'd place him on a mid-chunin level for now. He's an incredible sensor, swordsman and has no problems with killing, he'll go far and I'll support him." She explained.

Akiho's eyes widened when she mentioned killing. "What! You said killing? Naruto already have killed?" She questioned. Sakura's eyes widened too at the fact.

Mizuko nodded. "We took down an entire camp of mercenaries yesterday. If I'm not mistaken he killed ten of them." She answered. "Honestly, if there are bandits around here I wouldn't be surprised if he came back all bloody tomorrow, though I hope he doesn't." The white haired girl finished and stood up. "I need to take a shower and take a nap. We've been up since yesterday morning."

Akiho looked at Sakura who looked back at her, both genuinely surprised by the revelation. "I… need to take a walk." Akiho muttered and stood up, leaving Sakura alone.

* * *

Naruto sighed as he observed the results of the carnage that happened half an hour ago. Dead bodies were littered everywhere, grass and few tents that were still standing were stained by blood. He couldn't pin the whole massacre on himself as two dozen of his summons had helped him.

But what caused him to do this? Well…

_Naruto had a happy grin on his face as he ran quietly through the forest. The sun was already below the tree line and it was getting darker. However, due to Naruto's enchanted eyesight and Pesquisa he could as well travel through an abyss. On his left side running was Kurotsume. Hiro and Aoshima had run ahead, but they weren't far away._

_That was what he loved about his summons, hunting. He would be invited for hunts every now and then and Naruto totally enjoyed that. First time he joined a hunt was a month after he summoned Aoshima for first time. She had taught him the basics of hunting and then went onto more complicated way of hunting that was nothing like a regular human would do. _

_Humans would hunt with use of traps or bow and arrow, waiting several hours in place before taking down their prey from a distance. What Naruto had been taught was hunting like panthers did, with his sword instead of claws or jaw that is. By now he was skilled enough to get behind an animal without it noticing at all before it was too late._

_However, instead of finding an animal, they found a camp. A medium sized camp of bandits with plenty tents and to Naruto's horror, a cage with slaves, female slaves, or at least what was left of them. He had witnessed the terrible things that the thugs did to the few women who were the only left. If there were any earlier they were dead._

_Naruto's blood boiled and Grimmjow told him to kill the bastard when they saw the women, or rather teenage girls raped and ultimately killed by the thugs when the women started resisting. After life left their bodies, bandits kept mistreating the bodies._

_That was when all hell broke loose, with help of Kurotsume, Aoshima and Hiro, Naruto had summoned two dozen human-sized panthers. When the other members of the feline clan noticed what had happened, only a single nod from Naruto was required._

_Even if there was thrice as many bandits as there were panthers, they stood no chance. The predators surrounded the camp and engaged from every side. Most of the thugs were drunk and didn't notice the snarling predators until it was too late. While Naruto slashed left and right with his katana, even using his Sonido to its fullest to kill as fast as he could while panthers clawed and bit everything that moved._

_Screams of fear and agony filled the camp as bandits ran around like headless chickens, trying to do something. The carnage only lasted for ten minutes when the last thug fell down dead with his neck ripped in half. Naruto who was entirely covered in blood panted slightly. Every panther had bloodstains all over their fur, mainly jaws. _

Naruto acknowledged the fact that they had massacred an entire camp of bandits in matter of ten minutes. _'Are you alright?' _Grimmjow asked from Naruto's soulscape.

The blue haired teen, watched as the platoon of summons disappeared. _'I'm fine, though I doubt they are.'_ Naruto answered mentioning the bodies.

Grimmjow snorted at the remark. _'You totally went batshit there, shame I couldn't enjoy that too.'_

_'I didn't enjoy it.' _Naruto narrowed his eyes for a second. _'Maybe we'll find a way of getting you out of there someday.'_

_'I doubt it, but thanks for good intentions.'_

_'Oh don't be such pessimist.' _Naruto answered with a grin. He looked down on his clothes and whined when he noticed that they were entirely covered in blood. _'Shit, now I'll have explanations to do when we come back, Akiho will probably do that her sister-brother shit again.'_

_'I vouch for that, though I bet Mizuko will be pissed.' _Grimmjow added with a snicker.

Naruto shivered. Mizuko was a woman you do not fuck with, no matter how high pain resistance, a heel to balls hurts a lot. _'I hope not.'_

_'I hope yes.'_

_'Fuck you.' _Naruto answered annoyed.

_'You wish, kitten.' _Grimmjow added. Oh how he loved annoying Naruto to no end.

_'Will you ever shut the fuck up?' _Naruto hissed.

_'No.' _

Naruto groaned as he turned around in the direction of Tazuna's house. _'I hate you so much.'_

_'Love you too.' _That was the only answer before a loud laugh resonated in Naruto's head.

* * *

Naruto entered the house with his bloodied mask down and bandana in his hand. His appearance made everyone tense. He noticed that everyone was looking at him. "What?" He asked, though he knew the reason.

Hyo, who was leaning against a wall held back a chuckle. "I guess there is many bandits around here, how many?"

Naruto ran a hand through his blue hair. "Uh, I lost count after fifteenth." He said making everyone face fault on the ground.

Kakashi looked up at him and sized up the blue haired boy in front of him. _'Just few years ago he was a complete failure, he rarely attended to the academy and now… What did you teach him Danzo?'_

Mizuko regained her posture quickly and adapted an angry look. "Are you out of your mind?! Going alone into a fight! You could have died!" She yelled at the blood covered boy.

Naruto raised his hands in defense and answered. "Calm the fuck down! I wasn't alone you know." He growled and tried to walk past her, but was stopped when the girl grabbed his collar.

She looked him right in his eyes. "Don't you dare do a stunt like this again, I may have gotten over Tanzo's death, but if I lose you or Tenrai, I don't know what will I do!" Mizuko said and released his collar. She turned around and stormed out of the room. Tenrai gave Naruto an apologetic glance and left after Mizuko.

Naruto sighed slightly. Mizuko was very attached to her teammates, as she was an orphan. Both her parents died during Kyuubi's attack.

Naruto scratched his head and turned to the few people who were left. Hyo disappeared again, Kakashi was engrossed in his book again, Sakura looked a little pale, Akiho stared at Naruto with worried look and Sasuke… well, Sasuke was brooding, again.

The blue haired boy sighed and leaned against the wall. He rolled his blood stained sleeve up revealing the ever-present tattoo. As he was about to unseal his katana, Akiho appeared in front of him.

She was looking intently at the seal/tattoo while Naruto inwardly groaned. "That's a storage seal, right?" Akiho asked and Naruto hesitantly nodded. He knew what she was about to ask and there was no way getting out of that.

Seals were Akiho's greatest asset, just like her father. Naruto recalled the few moments he was in Akiho's room in past. Ever since the girl was five, she was going all crazy about sealing arts, vowing that she would surpass her parents in sealing arts.

Naruto had to admit, that with her lineage it wasn't impossible. Kushina was an Uzumaki, a clan that was known for their sealing techniques while Minato was an absolute genius when it came to seals.

"Can I… take a look please?" Akiho begged.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "…fine." He answered and the girl grinned.

For the next ten minutes Akiho was checking the tattoo and had a frown on her face for entire time. "I give up!" She groaned and slumped to the ground.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at her rather amusing behavior. "Too complicated?" He asked with a grin.

He knew that his tattoo wasn't a regular seal that would be found in elemental countries. A regular storage seal of that size would be enough to store maybe thirty shurikens, nothing more. But this seal was different. It worked both as a mark that indicated that Naruto was associated with his summons, was a seal with vast space, roughly ten times larger than a regular seal of this size and gave Naruto ability to understand feline speech.

Considering the last ability, the seal was nearly as complicated as Minato's Shiki Fuujin. To the present day, no seal master managed to create a seal with such ability to understand neutral animals.

Akiho groaned once again and huffed. "Where did you get it anyways? I haven't seen anything so complicated since... well, since I looked at my stomach." She asked, mentioning the seal that kept Kyuubi at bay.

Naruto shrugged his arms "I don't really feel like telling you." He answered and unsealed his katana and started inspecting it. Not like it had any dull place or rust, a Zanpakuto was as sharp as the user's reiryoku. Needless to say that Naruto's reiryoku was top notch, Grimmjow made sure of it every night during their vicious spars.

He sighed again and stored his katana away. "You know about my summons?" Naruto asked. Akiho nodded, recalling the few moments she saw him with the panthers. "The first time I did summoning, Aoshima gave it to me."

"Aoshima?"

Naruto looked at her for a second before motioning her to follow him, which she complied. Kakashi heard their conversation and decided to follow them, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him from doing so. That was Hyo's arm and the mad shook his head.

Shrugging his arms, Kakashi returned to his lecture.

In front of Tazuna's house, Naruto bit his thumb and did the seals required for summoning. He placed his palm on the ground and whispered the name of technique. In an explosion of smoke appeared a black furred panther with a blue stripe on its back and cold yellow eyes. The feline was easily human sized, and Akiho shivered slightly when the panther did a toothy grin at the sight of Naruto.

"Hi there kitten, who's the girl?" The panther asked with feminine voice. A vein bulged out on Naruto's forehead while Akiho snickered when they heard the remark.

"How many times do I have to tell you, stop calling me kitten!" Naruto shouted, but the panther merely laughed.

"So who's the girl? Your girlfriend?" Aoshima asked. Naruto paled while Akiho blushed at the panther's bold question. Grimmjow exploded with laughter in Naruto's head, not seeming to stop anytime soon. "I'm so proud of you!"

"He's not my boyfriend! Naruto is my brother god damn it!" Akiho yelled. She was completely red from embarrassment.

Naruto smacked his face and muttered something about damn panthers, while Grimmjow choked on his laugh. _'Have mercy on me… for I'm dying! Hahaha!' _The older Arrancar begged.

"Ao, say that again and I'll skin you." Naruto threatened the panther. "Anyways, this is Aoshima, matriarch of the panther clan. Ao, this is Akiho, Namikaze's daughter, and no way in hell she's my girlfriend." Naruto explained with cold voice

"She's the matriarch of panther clan? I thought that boss summons would be much larger." Akiho questioned making Aoshima chuckle.

"That would be really inconvenient since we're panthers. Kurotsume who's my mate, and clan's patriarch is the same size as me, but trust me, that cat is stupidly strong, the amount of chakra he possesses is almost as same as the snake's chief, Manda." She answered, getting a surprised look from Akiho.

She knew who Manda was, that snake was a summon of Konoha's greatest rogue shinobi, Orochimaru.

"I know how much you would like to rub it in toad's or snakes' face, but I would like to avoid meeting with that damn pedophile, Orochimaru." Naruto added

"Say what you want kitten." Aoshima grinned when she saw the irritated look on Naruto's face. She turned to the girl and introduced herself. "I'm Aoshima, pleased to meet you!" The girl nodded and was about to speak up when she heard another voice.

"Naruto! The hell are you doing so late with summons?"

Naruto turned around and saw Mizuko and Tenrai going towards the house. "Nothing interesting, where were you?" He asked. Meanwhile Aoshima disappeared with a single wave towards Akiho, who returned the favor.

"I had to clean my thoughts and Tenrai just tagged along." Mizuko answered and Tenrai nodded in confirmation. "Let's get inside, it's already midnight and I want some sleep." She said and threw a scroll to Naruto, who caught it with ease and added. "Meanwhile, change your clothes so you don't go around scaring the shit out of people."

Naruto and Akiho nodded and the four entered the house. After a quick lunch – which in Naruto's case consisted of few ration bars – everyone went to sleep. If anyone hostile came close to the house, they would know.

The morning came rather quickly. Naruto had woken up first at five am. Training with Grimmjow while everyone else slept had the advantage of partial awareness outside. They had kept check on the time and Naruto would wake up without feeling tired.

The scroll that Mizuko gave him yesterday had a clean pair of clothes that were bloodied by Naruto's 'adventure' the day before, but decided to leave his blood stained mask, because that would make him get used to blood's smell faster, even if it grossed out other people.

After half an hour of stretches, Naruto passed by sleeping Mizuko and Tenrai and went down the stairs into the dining room. Hyo, Kakashi and Tazuna were already there, the latter one sipping coffee that he made earlier.

Kakashi noticed his presence and turned to him. "Good morning Naruto-kun." He said with an eye smile which was returned with a nod.

The boy leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, reaching out as far as he could with his Pesquisa in order to train it. With a little bit more concentration he would be able to use it during fights, which would be incredibly useful.

Mizuko and Tenrai came down fifteen minutes later, both munching on the last bits of their ration bars. When they arrived, Hyo stood up and turned to them. "We'll be going with Tazuna and protect him at the bridge, Zabuza shouldn't be up for few more days so I don't expect any encounters today since Naruto exterminated that camp yesterday, any questions?" He explained. Tenrai raised his arm and Hyo motioned him to speak.

"Hyo-sensei, what's the meaning of life?" Tenrai asked, getting a deadpan look from Naruto and a whack on the back of Tenrai's head. "Ow…"

"Idiot." Mizuko muttered while Tazuna and Kakashi chuckled.

Hyo motioned Tazuna and his team to follow him to the bridge, which they complied. The day went by rather quickly. Nothing unusual happened at the bridge that was worth mentioning. Mizuko and Tenrai kept an eye to the workers while Naruto used his Pesquisa and fought with his katana against imaginary enemies.

He was aware of anything in a radius of a mile and trained at the same time, a win-win situation.

They came back to the house during the evening, and were surprised to see Team Seven training their chakra control on the lake that was near the house. Tazuna ignored that though, and just entered the house. Sakura ran around on the lake and tried to avoid the rocks that Kakashi threw at her, while Akiho and Sasuke had a taijutsu spar.

Sasuke seemed to have the upper hand due to Akiho sacrificing more concentration on the water walking, so she won't fall into the water. She fought rather wobbily and barely kept up with Sasuke. Though, the fact that Akiho had much, much greater chakra reservers than the Uchiha made up for her lack of control.

Kakashi who was sitting on the shore noticed their reinforcements and stopped throwing rock at the bruised Sakura.

Hyo approached the silver haired jonin and both exchanged nods of respect. "To be honest, Kakashi-san, I didn't expect you to train your team this hard."

Kakashi eye smiled and answered. "Maa, after I almost got my ass handed to Zabuza I decided to kick up their training a notch."

"They're still on the water walking? We're already on senbon balancing." Tenrai pointed out, watching the spar between Akiho and Sasuke who were panting heavily. He sensed a palm closing in to the back of his ehad and ducked, successfully avoiding Mizuko's smack.

"We graduated earlier and we don't have as much chakra as the Uchiha and Akiho, don't forget that." She answered. Tenrai nodded and turned to Naruto.

"Oi Naruto, kenjutsu spar on the lake?" He offered while Naruto chuckled.

"Show off much, eh? Sure, why not." Naruto grinned and stepped on the lake, which didn't go unnoticed by Team Seven.

While Tenrai and Naruto prepared for the spar, Kakashi spoke to Hyo. "Did anything unusual happen?"

Hyo shook his head. "No, but I suspect that Zabuza will be up and running in two days"

Kakashi nodded and turned to the two teens who were about to start sparring. Akiho, Sasuke and Sakura decided to stop the training for today as they were exhausted and decided to watch the spar. Sakura out of curiosity to see the supposed dead-last and Akiho wondered how skilled Naruto was with the blade, since she didn't see him use it earlier. Considering that she rarely saw him was the reason.

Sasuke wanted to see the match as well. Ever since he got obliterated in the taijutsu spar against Naruto, he wanted the payback. It always helped to see the enemy's movements and ability before the fight. Didn't it?

Naruto widened his stance, unsealed his katana, grabbed it in his right hand and held the scabbard in his left. That was something he picked up during his training with Grimmjow few days back after he found out that the scabbard was enchanted and almost as durable as the blade itself. If he chanelled his reiryoku to the scabbard it would make it almost as sharp as a regular blade.

Tenrai unsheathed his tanto and held it in reverse grip. While he wasn't as strong as Naruto, he was heavier, which placed much more weight against Naruto's blade during their fights.

Naruto closed his right eye to obscure his vision – an agreement he had with Tenrai when it came to kenjutsu spars. Tenrai's teammate was much more skilled with swords than he, so to give him an edge Naruto kept his right eye closed. Naruto wouldn't use his Pesquisa or Sonido either, as it would be overkill.

The boys stared down eachother before Naruto lunged at Tenrai. The brown haired teen ducked under the swing of the scabbard and blocked the stab with his tanto, pushing Naruto's katana away to the right side.

Keeping up the quick pace Tenrai pulled out a custom made kunai from his puch to counter the scabbard that came down. His kunai was a little bit thinner, but four inches longer with a crescent shaped hole in the middle of the kunai's edge. He caught the scabbard in the hole and twisted it, hopefully disarming Naruto from his scabbard.

He didn't expect Naruto to twist his body almost unnaturally. Naruto twisted his upper body to the right and jumped up, sliding out his caught scabbard and proceeding with a slash to Tenrai's right arm with his katana.

Tenrai cursed inwardly and let go of his kunai which fell into the water. He reached out with his fist and managed to his Naruto's right arm, redirecting the katana. The blade missed Tenrai's arm by an inch, but made a slight slash in the boy's outfit. Tenrai jumped away, creating distance between the more experienced swordman. He landed ten feet away and made a pulling motion with his right arm.

Naruto noticed the slight glint in the air and suddenly felt something embed itself in his thigh. He took a glance down and noticed that Tenrai's kunai was one fourth of an inch in his left thigh. He sliced the air in front of it, cutting off the steel wire that was attached to the kunai, threw his scabbard in the air and pulled out the blade from his leg.

As soon as he pulled it out he threw it to his left, hitting a tree that was nearby. Naruto then caught the descending blue sheath and used it with his katana to block a downwards slash from Tenrai's tanto. Tenrai pressed as hard as he could, but Naruto's strength was far too great to push him down.

Tenrai knew that Naruto was holding back, a lot actually. If there was anyone who could match Naruto in straight kenjutsu match would be one of the best kenjutsu users in Konoha, Yugao.

Tenrai placed his palm on the center of flat side on his blade and pushed as hard as he could. Then he tried to kick Naruto's lower section with his right leg, but due to Naruto's hierro it felt like kicking a brick wall.

Naruto used that moment to disarm Tenrai. He quickly raised his left knee upwards, hit Tenrai's leg and made him stumble a bit as his leg was stretched upwards too much for comfort. Due to his changed weight center, the brown haired tanto user felt his body fall backwards.

As he fell down on the lake surface with his back down, Naruto had his head between his katana and scabbard in a scisorring motion.

"Dead." Naruto said the one word and removed his weapons from Tenrai's neck, sheathed his katana and offered Tenrai a hand, which he gratefully accepted.

One the shore, Kakashi and his team was amazed by the quick display of skill. "Who trained him?" Hatake asked turning to Hyo. "I saw many sword users in past, and I can easily say that Naruto is easily chunin-level when it comes to the blade."

Mizuko smirked when she heard the famed Hatake praising her teammate. "No one did, he trains by himself. Eventually spars with Tenrai as he did now, but he was holding back a lot." She answered for Hyo.

"He was holding back?" They heard Akiho's low surprised whisper.

It was Hyo's turn to answer. "He did. I made him go full out once when I sparred against him and I can say that he's easily low-jonin level. I won't let him promote to a jonin though, not until he goes through his full training. That boy has an ability which allows him to move at incredible speeds, has great pain endurance and his skin is hard as rock, if not harder." He said, getting a look from Kakashi.

"So that's why Tenrai's kunai embedded itself so shallowly back then." Hatake pointed out. He didn't show it, but he was greatly surprised by Naruto's abilities. If Hyo of all people evaluated him to a jonin level, that meant something.

"I don't know how he does that, he denied telling us. When we first sparred a month ago, I booby trapped a fake body of Tenrai with five explosive notes that exploded point blank. He survived it with shallow wounds." Mizuko added, reffering to the fight they had when Team Eleven was created. "That's why he's our powerhouse. In addition, his sensor abilities are icing on the cake." She finished with a grin.

"To think that he was a dead-last for the last few years in academy…" Sakura muttered as she watched Tenrai and Naruto start another round.

Sasuke frowned. As much as he hated to admit it, Naruto was much stronger than him. Though, he knew that if he manages to master his Sharingan, he would have greater chances against him. _'I have to get stronger…' _He thought clenching his fists.

Kakashi sighed as he watched Tenrai get defeated over and over again, but he could see that even though their faces were covered, they had grins on their faces. "They're enjoying that fight." He pointed out the obvious fact.

Mizuko nodded in agreement. "Naruto takes great joy in fighting and Tenrai rubbed off on him." She added.

"Alright, I know that you want to watch them fight, but you need to rest. I'm afraid that Zabuza will try and attack Tazuna tomorrow or day after tomorrow." Kakashi spoke up. Akiho tensed a bit, but nodded. She cast another glance at Naruto and headed to the house.

"Kakashi-sensei, do you think we can take Zabuza on?" Sakura asked with slight worry in her voice.

Kakashi's lone eye formed an upside down U. "Don't worry Sakura. I and Hyo are enough to take him down." He assured her.

Sakura sighed relieved. "What about that hunter-nin?" She questioned.

Kakashi frowned for a millisecond. "You should be fine. Sasuke and Akiho are skilled and we have reinforcements." He answered and thought. _'Though, that hunter-nin is an uknown. We don't know anything about him…' _

Naruto was close when he heard Sakura's question. "If we get to fight him, we'll rip him to shreds!" He shouted behind his shoulder and avoided a stab from Tenrai.

_'You mean, you'll rip him to shreds.'_ Grimmjow chided in.

Naruto grinned inwardly. _'We'll see.'_


	7. Chapter 7

**Sup folks. Sefrys here with another chapter of Konoha' Panther! Next chapter will be the end of Wave mission and an intermission to Chunin Exam Invasion arc.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor Bleach!**

* * *

Mizuko sighed as she tried to take a nap, but her thoughts were running way too wildy for comfort. The reason was a certain kid who started up a shitstorm because he was a coward.

Mizuko thought that the kid was… annoying to say at least. He appeared out of the blue when the shinobi had a small dinner made by Tsunami, and started boasting about how they can't defeat Gato and that they will die anyways.

* * *

_The atmosphere was silent, but comfortable. Team Seven had recently returned from the bridge where they had their round of protecting Tazuna and the workers. Kakashi stayed at the house since he was still unable to fight, so Hyo took the leadership over Team Seven._

_They ate a dinner in silence. Hyo and Kakashi were done almost in heartbeat, which resulted in no one finding out how they look under respective masks. The silence was broken when they heard a low voice behind them. Those who were sitting with their back to the person turned around and noticed that it was a young boy with dark hair. "Why are you doing this? You'll die anyways." The boy spoke with a voice that was full of fear. It almost disgusted Naruto, who was fearless by nature._

_"Excuse me?" Tenrai's voice resonated in the room. _

_The boy clenched his fists. "How can you be so careless? You can't defeat Gato! You'll die like everyone else, he's too powerf-"His rant was interrupted when a shuriken wheezed past his face, embedding itself in the wall behind him._

_The boy stopped his rant when the four legged steel star scratched his cheek lightly, but enough to draw blood. "Shut the fuck up brat, you're annoying." _

_Surprising the most and getting a grin from Naruto, it was Mizuko who threw the shuriken. Tsunami wanted to shout at the girl for her behavior, but Tazuna clamped a hand on her mouth. He knew that the boy needed it. Ever since he lost his father, the boy changed into a complete pansy with pessimistical view on the world._

_The boy's eyes widened when a droplet of blood seeped from the shallow scratch on his left cheek. He clenched his teeth and spoke through them. "You don't know anything about suffering. You live in your village and never have suffered like me. You don't know what it feels to loose a part of your family!" He shouted without thinking and almost instantly regretted it when he saw the deadly looks that were thrown his way from Tenrai, Mizuko, and mostly from Sasuke. Sasuke wanted to strangle the boy for what he said right now. The words stung Kakashi as well as he thought of his deceased two teammates, but he didn't show it in a smallest bit._

_"Dare to say that again?" Whispered Sasuke as he stood up, his eyes shadowed by his hair. "Tell me, did you loose your entire family? Did you see your father and mother killed by your own brother? Your entire clan exterminated before your own eyes, and then forced to rewatch it over and over again for three days?"His voice slowly getting louder as his body trembled._

_Inari's eyes started tearing up from fear. Tsunami's and Tazuna's eyes widened when they heard about his family being murdered._

_"Answer me!" Sasuke snapped and yelled. Inari fell down on his ass, now openly crying._

_Akiho stood up, grabbed his shoulder and squeezed it gently. "Sasuke, it's enough!" She said. Sasuke looked at her sharply and Akiho's eyes widened. His left eye instead of onyx color was red with a single black tomoe in it. Completely oblivious to what happened with his eyes, Sasuke stormed out of the house. _

_Sakura wanted to follow him, but as she walked past Kakashi, he grabbed her wrist. "Don't, he needs to be alone." He said and released her arm. Sakura blinked and hesitantly nodded. She knew that the topic of Sasuke's clan and brother was dangerous to talk about around Sasuke. Though, when he shouted at Inari, Sasuke snapped. That was obvious, because the few ways of obtaining Sharingan are either in near-death situation, or serious emotional pressure. She didn't know if there were any other ways of obtaining it and she didn't want to know._

_Mizuko's eyes were misty and tears threatened to fall out. Her mind wandering to the memories of Tanzo and the few glimpses and pieces of memory she had of her family before they passed on. Thankfully, Tenrai held her hand and squeezed it gently. It made her calm down a bit. She smiled at her friend and calmed down her nerves._

_Naruto was pissed off at Inari. Not only because he annoyed the hell out of him, but also because he was a coward, a person who wouldn't fight back when you hit him but instead would curl into a ball and beg for mercy. "What's your name kid?" He asked, or rather demanded if his voice was anything to go by._

_"I-Inari." The boy muttered out. Naruto stood up from the table and walked up to him. He leaned down and grabbed his collar, quickly pulling him up. _

_"Listen here. You are a coward, and I despise cowards. What would you do if someone threatened your family or your life was at risk?" He asked harshly. Tazuna held Tsunami in place as she wanted to go and shove Naruto away from her child, but Tazuna whispered to her that the kid needed it. She reluctantly agreed and sat still."Answer. Me." _

_Inari fought against Naruto's grip, but it was useless against the older teen's strength. "I-I don't know!" He shouted through his tears._

_"THAT'S NOT A FUCKING ANSWER!" Naruto shouted. Kakashi stood up with intentions to stop Naruto before he did any harm to the kid._

_As soon as he stood up, Hyo grabbed his collar and pulled him down."Back down, Hatake." He ordered sharply. Kakashi wanted to object, but if it came from Hyo, his rank was at risk if he objected. _

_"What would you do?!" Naruto hissed. He wouldn't back down before he got the answer he wanted._

_The boy closed his eyes and answered through his teeth. "I-I would beg for mercy." Inari said dropped on the ground when Naruto let go of him._

_The teen looked at him. "Trash." He said and turned around. Naruto took few steps forward and stopped. He removed his glove on his right hand and placed it on the table. Then he turned around and pulled a kunai from his pouch._

_What shocked everyone and made both Akiho and Sakura pale, was that Naruto took the kunai and stabbed it through his right palm. The blood seeped from the wound, but Naruto didn't wince a tiny bit, which surprised Inari's family. "Through endless training I came to the point where I can resist almost any kind of pain. You know how I did it?" Naruto asked to which Inari shook his head._

_"I endured pain during my training. I never gave up and never will. The truth is, I would rather die than give up and beg for mercy." He added and pulled out the kunai with a sickening 'squelch'. He felt it, the great deal of pain that came with it. But he could resist it easily. It wouldn't hurt for long since Naruto had found out that for some reason, his wounds heal very quickly. "But why would I allow myself to endure such pain, such torturous training?"_

_He kneeled down to Inari and placed his wounded palm on the boy's forehead. "Self-sacrafice and duty to protect your village at all cost. If the situation would have need for it, I would gladly die protecting those who I cherish, those who I live to protect." He said. _

_Everyone, even Mizuko and Tenrai were shocked with his. They never knew that Naruto was so dedicated to being a shinobi of Konoha, but then again, no one really knew much about _

_Naruto. When one thought that he knew much about Naruto, the truth was that the boy discretly put him on the wrong track, and in the end the person would end up in a dead-end. _

_Naruto stood up and caught the bandage that Tenrai threw him. He began bandaging the wound and continued his speech. "I don't know if you will ever get over your fear or cowardliness, I don't care." Naruto said as he made the knot, tightening the bandages. "Get yourself a motto, a mantra or something else that you will follow, it'll help you." He finished and returned the bandage to Tenrai. He walked towards the stairs. "I'll be upstairs."_

_As he was half-way up, Inari called to him. "Wait!"_

_Naruto turned around and raised his eyebrow. "What is your motto?" Inari asked to which Naruto chuckled._

_He closed his eyes and smiled slightly. "Pride is useless, honor is nonexistent, but those who you protect are everything." He said and opened his eyes. "Cherish the days you have left with your family, because in the end you will regret not doing so. I know plenty of people who can't do it anymore." Naruto finished reffering to Sasuke, Tenrai and Mizuko. With that, he disappeared on the second floor._

_'And I thought that I knew everything about you.' Grimmjow's voice resonated in the boy's head. 'You didn't even fucking curse a single time.'_

_Naruto grinned. 'I did, once.'_

_Grimmjow rolled his eyes. 'Smartass, but I have to admit that it was inspiring.' He admitted. 'Now get in here.'_

* * *

After Naruto's rant, Sasuke had disappeared, but he came back in the late evening. At first he was very quiet for the rest of the evening, but eventually he had explained Kakashi what happened when he was away. The youngh Uchiha had med an interesting person when he was away in the forest, trying to clean his thoughts.

_Sasuke walked slowly through the forest that surrounded Tazuna's house. He was angry and sad after that little event with Inari. Sasuke was angry, because the boy pissed him off with his cowardliness and stupidity, and sad because his thoughts wandered to his deceased family. His mother, Mikoto who he resembles greatly, Fugaku who was rather harsh father and a clan head, but a father nonetheless. Then he thought about his Itachi._

_His fists clenched tightly when the images of the Uchiha massacre wandered back to him. Floors and wall stained with blood, bodies of people he met on daily basis lied littered around the compound, an eventuall kunai and scratch on wall here and there and both his parents lying on the floor in front of his brother – Uchiha Itachi. _

_He had lunged at Itachi back then, but his efforts were futile as Itachi was out of his league. He touched his right cheek where Itachi's kunai had scratched him all those years ago. A faint, almost invisible scar was present on his skin._

_He closed his eyes, trying to clear his thoughts. Sasuke slumped under a tree and pulled out a kunai. As the images of the massacre replayed in his mind, he repeadetly stabbed the kunai into the trunk of the tree he sat under. _

_He wanted to murder Itachi for what he did. Ever since that day Sasuke had called himself an avenger. He vowed to kill Itachi and avenge his family, his clan._

_'My foolish little brother, run, run away – cling to your cowardly life and hate me. Hate me for what I did, and when you have the same eyes as I come find me. Find me and see if you can defeat me.' Itachi's words resonated in Sasuke's mind once again. They did so every now and then, like a parasite that wouldn't let go, no matter how hard he tried._

_One question made its way to Sasuke's head. Why would Itachi do it?_

_Back then when he desperately asked Itachi about it before being placed under a genjutsu, his brother had answered him. 'I did it to test my abilities.'_

_Sasuke clutched the kunai tightly, his knuckled getting white from the pressure. The hole that his kunai made in the trunk was slowly getting deeper and deeper. Not five seconds later after he got that answer, Itachi had placed him under a powerful genjutsu, the infamous Tsukuyomi, where the user was able to control time freely. Sasuke had spent seventy-two hours in the genjutsu, the images of his family being murdered replayed over and over again._

_His eyes jerked open when he felt someone's hand shake his shoulder. Without another though Sasuke pushed the person away and jumped to the side, holding his kunai in front of him as a guard._

_The Uchiha heard a thud and a groan. "You didn't have to push me, you know?" A soft voice came from the person he shoved away._

_As Sasuke thought, it was a girl with. She had long dark hair and pale skin. Red lipstick decorated her lips and she was clad in a kimono. She held a basket filled in half with herbs._

_Sasuke sighed in relief that it wasn't an enemy and lowered his kunai. "Hn, I did it on reflex." He answered._

_The girl raised an eyebrow and giggled softly. She kneeled down and picked up some herbs from the groun. "I see, I apologize for doing that." She said and placed the fresh herbs in the basket. "What are you doing here anyways?"_

_Sasuke didn't answer, but asked a question instead. "Who are you?"_

_The girl looked at him amused. "A question for an answer, ninja-san." She said and picked up some more hebrs around the clearing._

_Sasuke's eyes narrowed for a second. "I was clearing my thoughts. Who are you?" He said and sat on the ground._

_The girl looked up at him and smiled. "I'm Haku, what's yours name?"_

_The Uchiha inwardly groaned at her stupid game – she wouldn't answer unless he did on her question. "Uchiha, Sasuke, what are you doing here?" He answered and waited for her reaction._

_Haku chuckled. "You said that like it was the most dramatical thing in the world." She said to which Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Tell me, what do you live for?"_

_Sasuke smirked. "An answer for a question, Haku-san." Sasuke spoke. Haku seemed like a nice person in his opinion. At least with her he could talk freely without her going all Uchiha-sama on him._

_Back in the village, people pampered him for being the 'last' loyal Uchiha and handed everything to him on a silver plate. Much to his disgust, he even saw some people kissing the ground he walked on. He disliked that a lot, how was he going to achieve the level Itaachi was on if everything was handed to him even without asking for it?_

_Haku chuckled and sat on the ground in front of him, holding her basket on her lap. "Catching me with my own rules? Well played Sasuke-san. To answer your question, I was gathering herbs for a friend of mine. What's up with your eye?" She asked curiously. While his right eye was of onyx colour, his left eye was blood red with a single black tomoe in it._

_"What do you mean?" He asked narrowing his eyes._

_Haku seemed to abandon the question game as she pulled out a small, round mirror from her pocket. She held it up in front of Sasuke's face and the boy gasped in surprise._

_'S-Sharingan! But how and when, why is it only one eye and why haven't I noticed it earlier?' The questions multiplied in his head. Then deciding to check something out he closed his right eye leaving the sharingan open._

_His entire perspective changed. His eye seemed to zoom onto everything around the clearing. Everything he saw was immediately carved in his mind forever. Sasuke understood now why he hadn't noticed it earlie. It was because the sharingan was active in only one eye. It wasn't dominat as his natural eye was. Even though his Sharingan was active, his perspective didn't change due to his natural eye being more 'experienced' than the Sharingan. But when he closed his right eye, cutting the vision of his natural eye, the Sharingan came on top and dominated his perspective._

_His head started feeling dizzy of all the details that suddenly came in. He had read a lot about the Sharingan, and from what he found it shouldn't be this strong with only one tomoe in it. Sasuke could see a camouflaged bug on the trunk of a tree, two hundred feet away from it. He saw the insect walk up the trunk along with other hundreds of insects that stirred in the grass along with other details in his eyesight. He even could count down the amount of leafs in a tree nearby in span of few seconds._

_He also could see Haku's chakra pathway in a large detail. Inwardly, he was surprised to see that her chakra coils were rather wide, too large for a civilian to have. _

_He clutched his eye as the strain on his mind was too large. When he covered his eye, the pain went away. Even though using his Sharingan felt exhilarating, like he could conquer the world, he decided to keep it closed for now. Opening his natural eye back, he looked at Haku._

_"That's… nothing…" He muttered, stood up and stumbled a little from all the dizziness his Sharingan caused._

_The girl stood up quickly and caught his shoulder before he fell down on the ground. She smiled softly as she stopped him from tripping over, smiling softly as she did. "Careful, are you alright?"_

_Sasuke looked at her and nodded. "Yeah, I think so." He answered and looked up at the sky, seeing that the sun was almost setting down. "I better go back." He said and turned to go back to Tazuna's house._

_"Maybe we'll see each other again?" Haku asked. Sasuke stopped in his track and turned around to see the girl with a smile on her face._

_He allowed his lips to curve a little and nodded. Sasuke turned back around and started walking when the girl spoke up again._

_"Zabuza will be at the bridge in two days along with me and two other shinobi that Gato had hired. Even though I don't really want to, I'll have to fight you too when it comes to it." She spoke with much colder voice, her personality taking a complete turn._

_Sasuke quickly whipped around and brought his kunai from his pouch, but the girl disappeared with a shunshin. "Shit, she's this hunter-nin!" He pointed out to himself. "But why would she tell me about Zabuza?" _

_He decided to get back to the house as it was getting late. He had to tell Kakashi about Haku's information about Zabuza and that he wouldn't be alone and ask him about his Sharingan. He had no idea why his Sharingan acted like this. It was way too powerful for one tomoe and he didn't feel any chakra drain from it when he opened it. He removed some bandages from his wrists and wrapped two layers of it vertically around his head, covering his Sharingan._

* * *

The atmosphere in the house was rather glum. Naruto had recently come down to the dining area as he was hungry, Mizuko was playing shogi with Hyo and Sakura who watched their match, and Tazuna was asleep – either because he was exhausted or drunk. Akiho wanted to question her brother about his dedication as a shinobi, but decided that it would be against his private matters.

Kakashi talked with Tenrai – the topic of their discussion was about Icha Icha, much to the girls' ire.

Tenrai didn't really care, because he would be beaten down by Mizuko occasionally anyways.

Naruto's head perked up when he sensed through his Pesquisa that Sasuke had returned and was closing in at a fast pace. He didn't really like the boy as he thought that he was too stuck up for his own good, but something was off about him. As if he was hiding something important.

The doors opened and a slightly panting Sasuke stumbled in. The fact that he had bandages over his left eye confused some of them.

"What happened, Sasuke?" Kakashi asked as he abandoned the Icha Icha discussion he had with Tenrai, much to the younger boy's disappointment.

Sasuke inhaled deeply. "I met that hunter-nin." He answered. Immediately everyone tensed.

Kakashi's lone eye narrowed. "You fought him, didn't you?" Everyone's eyes were focused on Sasuke at this moment, waiting for his answer impatiently.

The young Uchiha shook his head. "She's a girl and I didn't fight her." He answered.

"What happened to your eye then." Kakashi questioned, but he had a suspicion about what was behind the bandages.

Sasuke sighed. "Kakashi-sensei, how much do you know about Sharingan?" He asked, confirming Kakashi's suspicions.

"Actually, I know very much about it."

Sasuke nodded slightly and proceed with his questions. "I read a lot about it and I've never heard about anyone having only one Sharingan, how come you don't have a pair?"

Kakashi's body tensed slightly, only so much that it was noticeable only by Hyo. After a short silence, Kakashi answered. "My teammate and your uncle, Obito gave it to me before he died." He said only so much and Sasuke nodded.

"So you weren't born with one Sharingan right." He pointed out.

Kakashi nodded, slightly wondering about the slight change in Sasuke's behavior. He hasn't demanded a single thing since he came back, which was unusual.

Sasuke reached to his left eye and moved the bandage to his right, revealing his Sharingan with one tomoe. Kakashi almost gasped, while everyone was looking in interest.

_'So that wasn't my imagination.' _Akiho thought about the moment before Sasuke left the house.

"Then how come I have only one Sharingan?" Sasuke asked sharply. He was slightly enraged about the fact that he had only one Sharingan instead of a pair, but he hid it very well. "And why does it have properties of a fully mastered Sharingan, but with only one tomoe?"

The last statement surprised Kakashi visibly now. He lifted his own head band, revealing his fully matured Sharingan. His scarred eye widened when he saw the chakra coils in Sasuke's eyes.

His right eye was completely devoid of chakra coils that would pump the chakra into Sharingan, but the coils that were in his left eye were even wider than Kakahi's own! The fact that there wasn't any amount of chakra running through the coils worried Kakashi. Sasuke's Sharingan was active, but it didn't seem to consume chakra. "What in the name of…" Kakashi whispered with disbelief. "What can you see with it?"

Sasuke's Sharingan scooped around the room in a millisecond, taking in every detail it could. "I could see a camouflaged bug on a trunk of a tree two hundred feet away long with every single detail in the entire perspective. I also can see your chakra system in a high detail and I can memorize everything I lay my eyes upon in matter of a second." Sasuke explained, getting some disbelieving looks along with jealousy.

_'That thing would be handy, shame you're not an Uchiha.' _Grimmjow told Naruto who snorted at this remark.

_'Bitch please, I wouldn't want to be an Uchiha even if they had eyes of Rikudo himself.' _He answered with amusement in his voice.

Kakashi hid his Sharingan behind his headband and decided to test something. Without warning he threw a very quick punch at Sasuke's face. The boy's Sharingan whirled for a split second before he ducked quickly under the punch. "What was that about!" He shouted angrily.

Kakashi couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Sasuke, your Sharingan has the abilities of a fully matured one even if it is at the first level, I think I know what caused it."

"What did?"

"Your right eye has no chakra coils, and the coils that lead to your Sharingan are twice as wide as mine. I think your eyes… merged somehow and made the Sharingan mutate. I've never seen anything like this before." Kakashi explained, getting incredulous look from Sasuke.

"You mean…?"

Kakashi nodded. "That mean we don't know shit about its potential." He pointed out, getting deadpan looks from everyone. "I don't know if it can evolve further."

Sasuke nodded. "What about the Mangekyou?" He asked. Kakashi and Hyo tensed while everyone else were confused.

_'Did Itachi tell him about it?' _Kakashi thought. "I don't know." He answered. "Now, what else did you speak with that hunter-nin about?"

Sasuke stared at Kakashi for a second, before he hid his eye behind the bandages once again and thought for a second about Haku. "She… I don't think she's willingly with Zabuza."

"What do you mean?" Akiho chided in.

"She told me that she doesn't want to fight me and that Zabuza along with two other shinobi Gato had hired will be on the bridge in two days." He answered.

Kakashi nodded. "She doesn't want to fight you?" Sasuke nodded, almost letting a slight smile on his face. Kakashi sighed again. "Alright, get some rest now and don't come near Inari, Naruto scared the shit out of him."

Some of the boys snickered when Kakshi said that. Sasuke raised his eyebrow. "What did you do?" He asked as he turned to the blue haired teen.

Naruto gave him a toothy grin, opened his palm revealing his bloodied bandage. "Scared the fuck out of him and beat some sense into his head."

Sasuke smirked at that. "Serves him right." He said and turned to the door. "I'll be outside if anyone needs me." The young Uchiha said, his thoughts travelling to a dark haired girl

* * *

The next two days passed quickly. Kakashi and Hyo let their teams rest, easing up on any training. The bridge building progressed a little bit, though more and more people decided to give up. Akiho came to rescue when there wasn't enough people to build the bridge, as her Kage Bunshins came in handy. She could easily create few hundreds of them, but Kakashi forbid her from making more than a hundred.

Today though, when both teams arrived on the bridge they were met with an unnaturally thick mist. They already knew who was on the bridge, if the dead and incapacitated bodies of workers were any indication.

Both Team Seven and Eleven were on their toes, though Naruto wasn't with them. Much to his ire, Kakashi ordered him to stay at Tazuna's house and protect it if Gato or Zabuza tried anything.

Meanwhile when Zabuza made his appearance on the bridge, Naruto had a rather lazy patrol around the house's area, a pointless conversation with Grimmjow and a bored look on his face. "I can't believe that they forced me to stay behind."

Grimmjow nodded. _'Maybe if someone comes, you kill them, leave few of your summons here and go to the bridge?'_

Naruto's eyes sparked for a second. _'That's a fucking brilliant idea!' _

_'I'm not sure if you're sarcastic, dumb or serious.' _Grimmjow spoke, getting a mental whack from Naruto.

The blue haired teen stopped in his track when he sensed two signatures that were making their way to the house. Without a second thought, Naruto used his Sonido to quickly arrive close to the house. There he saw two men who entered Tazuna's house. They were clearly in their thirties or forties, had clothes that were similar to those of the thugs he killed few days back and both were armed with a katana.

Due to Naruto's enchanted sense of hearing, he could easily pick up words that were said in the house, or rather shouted. As soon as they entered the house, they walked out of it, dragging Tsunami along.

Naruto was about to lunge at the men when he saw Inari run at one. "Leave my mom alone!" He shouted and ran, yelling as he did. Before he got close to anyone, Inari was viciously kicked in the chest, throwing him away.

"Inari!" The boy's mother shouted as she saw him being tossed around like a ragdoll.

One of thugs walked up to Inari. "What do we do with him?" He asked to the other.

"Boss told us to bring the woman as a hostage. He didn't say anything about him." The man who held Tsunami answered.

"I say we kill him." Said the one who was about to stab Inari.

"Inari!" Tsunami yelled terrified when she saw that the man's katana was foot away from Inari's face.

What happened next wasn't anything she would expect. A dark gray blur whipped in front of them, knocking the thug away from Inari and slamming him into the wall, leaving a half foot deep dent. "Waraji!" The man who held Tsunami yelled to his comrade who was lifted off the floor, just by Naruto pressing his palm on Waraji's chest.

Waraji gasped for air and eyed the person who held him against the wall. "S-Such speed." He whispered.

Naruto didn't waste time as he answered. "Not only speed." He said with a voice that screamed danger. He pushed a lot of his reiryoku into his palm creating a faint red glow. If Waraji's screams were anything to go by, he was being hurt a lot.

Naruto pushed his palm forward and with the use of reiryoku burned through Waraji's flesh and crushed his lungs, his palm piercing through the thin wall making a gaping hole through Waraji's body and the wall. He dropped the screaming and bleeding out man on the floor and turned to his terrified comrade and Tsunami. _'Still not enough control for a Cero or even Bala, not by a longshot.' _He frowned.

"Who are you!" The man who held Tsunami yelled, holding the katana closely to Tsunami's throat. His arm and entire body was shaking in fear.

Naruto grinned as he looked behind the man. "You should watch your back."

The man hesitantly looked behind, and to his horror saw an open jaw of a predator that clenched on his face, crushing half of his head like a watermelon.

His lifeless body dropped the katana and released Tsunami who fell forward. The predator that eliminated the thug was a black panther with an eye path that covered its left eye. Kurotsume spew the bits of skull out and cursed the shattered bones that embedded itself in his mouth.

Naruto didn't beat another look at the downed men. "I'm going to the bridge, summon someone and prepare to be summoned again, I'll need your help later on most probably." The blue haired teen said to Kurotsume to which the panther nodded.

Then Naruto turned to Inari and smiled through the mask. "You did good Inari, but next time, don't yell when you attack" He spoke and Inari looked at him with wide eyes. "I need to ask you to go get the villagers on the bridge as soon as possible. There might be hell going on there and if you want your country standing, we need the manpower."

Inari stood up and nodded, but before he or Tsunami could thank him, the boy disappeared with his Sonido.

* * *

Back on the bridge, things were at a stalemate. Due to Zabuza's mist, Kakashi and Hyo were hard pressed to keep up with the famed Demon of the Mist. The fact that the rogue-nin released the weight seals that were placed on his zanbato didn't help at all. If he was swinging it around earlier like a toothpick, now it was more like a feather.

"To think that I have to fight an ANBU and the Copy Ninja at the same time." Zabuza grunted as he dodged an earth spear that was thrown at him by Hyo. "This is so much fun!"

Team Seven and Eleven minus Naruto were fighting against three shinobi. Sakura was ordered to guard Tazuna so that left Akiho, Sasuke, Mizuko and Tenrai against the two seasoned chunnin rogue-nins and one that was almost jonin-level.

Akiho and Sasuke were fighting together against Haku. The girl had her mask and entire equipment of a hunter-nin with her this time. Both Konoha genins were hard pressed against the girl.

They were doing fine, pushing her further and further until she did that technique of hers that created a large dome of ice mirrors that trapped Sasuke and Akiho. They both were hard pressed against the masked hunter-nin, if the several ice needles that were sticking out of their bodies were any indication. However, Akiho noticed that Haku wasn't aiming to kill them, quite the opposite from the enemies Tenrai and Mizuko fought against.

Tenrai had a standoff against a man in his early twenties. He was a tan skinned man with black hair that was tied into a low ponytail, leaving a bang or two of hair that framed his face. His face was completely masked by a material that hung from just from below his white eyes that had a slight black tinge to them. The mask covered his entire face save for his eyes and the top of his head was covered by a brown-white turban with a headband sewd into it. The mark on the headband indicated that he was a shinobi from Sunagakure, the slash that went horizontally through it indicated that he was a rogue shinobi from his village.

Tenrai cursed as he dropped another destroyed kunai on the bridge's stone floor. He was fighting a shinobi that used wind elemental techniques, and was able to incorporate the technique of Flying Swallow that made his weapons much sharper than his own. The Konoha teen shinobi had already lost his tanto which was cut cleanly just above the guard along with four of his custom made kunais. He had to admit though that his kunais were more resistant against the wind user than his now destroyed tanto, as the steel that they were made of was of top quality, straight from the Iron country.

The Suna rogue shinobi wasn't fairing perfectly though. The bottom of the mask was damaged, as Tenrai managed to bypass his defenses in quick onslaught and almost cut through the rogue shinobi's face. The honed reflexes of the man probably saved his life, as the kunai managed to slice half of the fabric and leave a very shallow cut on the man's face that went from his left cheek to his snow white lips.

Tenrai and the rogue shinobi knew that they were pretty much on the same level of abilities and experience, but the difference in their elemental affinities gave the Suna shinobi an advantage.

Sure, Tenrai could use one of his Katon techniques that would be at greater strength if the wind user used a wind technique, but he would burn out of chakra pretty quickly.

Tenrai decided to stall the man as long as he could until Mizuko was finished with her opponent or until Naruto comes to the rescue. Coincidentally, the Suna shinobi's plan was similar as he tried and stall Tenrai until Zabuza or his partner were done.

* * *

Mizuko was faring slightly better against the other kunoichi as her opponent didn't have the wind affinity. However, getting a rock pillar into your guts still hurt a lot. The second shinobi originated from Suna too. She didn't wear the turban now the mask, revealing her dark hair, coal colored eyes with a small white tinge to them and black lips.

Opposite of the first shinobi, the dark haired kunoichi wasn't as tight lipped. As Mizuko ducked under an upwards slash from the kunoichi's kunai, she noticed with corner of her eyes that Tenrai planned on stalling his enemy, which meant that he couldn't handle him alone. Mizuko's facial features hardened as she thought about several strategies that could work in taking the kunoichi down.

"What's the matter?" The Suna kunoichi asked with a taunting voice. "You seem to be worried about your friend there, don't you?"

Mizuko narrowed her eyes and jumped a few feet back. She reached with her right hand into her pouch that was strapped above her knee and pulled out six of the four pronged shurikens she had with her. She then threw three of them into her left hand and crossed her arms in a blocking motion.

"You're not going to talk, do you?" The rogue kunoichi shouted to her and did four hand seals and continued her taunting. "My brother will kill that comrade of your and then we'll finish you off."

The white haired kunoichi from Konoha narrowed her eyes and threw her shurikens at her opponent. Two of the blades went straight for the girl's body while the other four passed by her sides. She had countered the shurikens with a quick earth technique that created a stone pillar which took the blades straight on.

The Suna kunoichi narrowed her eyes as the four shurikens flew next to her sides missing her completely. She was about to taunt the girl's aim when she saw Mizuko do a pulling motion in the air with both her arms. Her own eyes widened slightly when she noticed the almost unnoticeable glint of steel wire in the air.

Just before Mizuko had thrown the projectiles, she had strapped four of them, two in each hand to the steel wire that was present on her wrists. She had missed the kunoichi on purpose, taking her offguard as the blades closed in quickly from behind, leaving no room to dodge due to the pillar in front of the kunoichi. _'I got you!' _Mizuko thought.

Just as the shurikens were about to stab the girl, they were intercepted by four kunais that were thrown from the west side of the bridge.

"Stop talking and focus, Shimaro!" They heard the until now quiet Suna rogue-shinobi yell from where he and Tenrai fought. He was bleeding on his arm as he was forced to ignore the incoming slash from Tenrai and intercept the shurikens that were about to kill his comrade.

"Got it, brother!" The kunoichi yelled back. Something clicked in Mizuko's head and her eyes widened slightly at her discovery.

"You're the Yin-Yang Duo from Suna!" She said with disbelief, that couldn't be possible. They were famed Suna shinobi who were presumed dead at the end of the Third Great Shinobi War. The Yin-Yang duo combined was as powerful as the infamous Chiyo of Sand or the woman's brother.

The girl chuckled at Mizuko's words. "Do we look like fourty years old?" She questioned sarcastically. "You're talking about our parents, girl."

Mizuko's eyes narrowed getting over the initial shock. "But you look exactly the same as they did…"

Shimaro snorted at her words. "That's because they were our parents, idiot! Are you so dense under that skull of yours that you can't figure that out?!" She yelled at Mizuko who got a tick mark on her forehead.

Just before she yelled back, Tenrai beat her to it. "Mizuko! Don't let her get to you and calm the fuck down!" He yelled in a very Naruto-ish way.

The white haired girl nodded to herself and took few calming breath. She eyed her opponent an loosened the steel wire on her wrists. "Alright, I'm done playing." She said and grinned, preparing for the vicious onslaught with her razor-wires.

* * *

Meanwhile a little bit further on the bridge, Hyo and Kakashi were starting to feel the fatigue from fighting Zabuza. The man really lived up to his name. He was quick, silent and incredibly strong – no wonder that he was known as one of the greatest swordsmen in the world.

Kakashi landed next to Hyo, barely seeing him due to the thick mist. "Any good ideas?" He heard Hyo speak.

Kakashi with his Sharingan open and the other eye closed shook his head slightly. "If we had a way to pinpoint his location, then we would win this."

Hyo nodded grimly. He started thinking if leaving Naruto at Tazuna's house was a good idea. The boy was a much better kenjutsu user than Kakashi or Hyo combined, and if anyone would have chances of beating Zabuza in a straight kenjutsu match, it was Naruto.

"I could let some of my blood stay on his blade so my summons could pinpoint his location, but that is too risky." Kakashi stated quietly, trying to locate Zabuza. He could hear the faint noise of steel hitting against steel in the back, indicating that their genins were fighting too. He couldn't help but worry about them.

"What about yours Raikiri?"

Kakashi shook his head again. "He would need to be immobile in order to do so." He thought a bit about Zabuza's fighting style. Instead of a head-on charge, he decided to tire them out both mentally and psychically.

Hyo sighed and tightened the grip in his kunai when he saw that Zabuza had created few water clones. This was going lovely.

* * *

Sakura was nervous. She and Tazuna who was standing behind her watched the ongoing fight between Mizuko and Shiromaru and Tenrai's standoff against the Suna shinobi.

"Do you think we'll win?" She heard the nervous question from behind. Tazuna was scared too.

Sakura gulped. "I hope…" She whispered when she saw the ridiculous amount of steel wire explode from Mizuko targeting the girl in front of her like a razor net.

* * *

Meanwhile in the dome of ice that Haku had made, Akiho was holding her bleeding arm. Sasuke wasn't holding better either. The boy was able to avoid the senbon needles to the extent and track Haku as she jumped between the mirrors, throwing the hails of senbons one after another. However, even if he could see her with his Sharingan, he couldn't do much as his body wasn't fast enough.

"Please, surrender. I don't want to kill you." They heard Haku's cold voice. "But if Zabuza-sama ordered me so, I will obey."

Sasuke noticed that her last sentence was rather forced out. _'Why is does it seem suspicious to me? She said that she is Zabuza's tool, but I can clearly see that she is being forced to do this all.'_ He thought and did several hand seals for a fire technique, trying his best at following Haku's movements. **"Katon: Goukyaku no jutsu!"** He said and breather out a large fire ball at the mirror in front of him.

The flaming projectile hit the target and made a slight crack in the mirror, but before he could smirk at his job, the cracks in the mirror melt together, repairing it to the point it was at earlier. "This is useless." Haku said again and prepared to finish this, doing several hand seals.

Akiho had no seals with her that would work and drawing seals in the middle of a fight was not something she could do yet. _'I could use it but…' _She considered using Kyuubi's chakra, but decided against it. She shook her head slightly. _'It would only loosen seal.' _

Then she recalled something what her parents gave her before the mission. _'… if you are in a dire situation, use it and I'll be there in a flash…' _The voice of her father resonated in her head. She reached to the seal that was on her thigh and resealed it, revealing a custom made kunai.

It differed from a standard kunai in that they had three blades instead of one and on the handle which was thicker than normal was the marker for her father's technique. She considered using it now. Since Minato became the Hokage, the casualties among the shinobi in Konoha greatly decreased. He gave away one of his kunais to most jonins and some chunins in the village. He was able to get in there in a split second and get out with the shinobi, most probably saving their lives.

If she did, she was sure that Minato would obliterate Zabuza and Haku. She was about to stab it in the ground and call for her father, when she heard a low noise of static.

Just as Haku was about to unleash another ice technique, the mirror behind them shattered into tiny bits. Sasuke's and Akiho's eyes widened slightly at who they saw. The shattering mirror disrupted Haku's control and slipped with a hand seal that made the technique she was about to unleash perish.

As soon as the cracks from the mirror exploded, it was followed by another sound of static that boomed through the dome. They could see a dark gray blur appearing and disappearing, gaining more and momentum until it crashed viciously into the mirror which Haku was in. An extended and opened palm hit the reflection of Haku right in her face, crushing the mirror and dragging Haku along, smashing her into the ground and dragging her limp body few feet across the bridge.

With the zoom of his Sharingan, Sasuke caught a glimpse of an array on Haku's neck that traveled down. Something clicked in his head and his eye widened, understanding now why her threats seemed so forced!

* * *

Zabuza had heard the sound of ice shattering and couldn't believe in what happened. _'Haku was defeated? Impossible…' _He thought and decided to finish this. However, the distraction that was provided by Haku's dome shattering was enough for Hyo to catch him.

Few stone spears were embedded in Zabuza's limbs, immobilizing him. "Shit!" He cursed and tried to move, but the thick spears were holding him in place.

"Kakashi, now!" Hyo shouted to Kakashi who nodded and did the required hand seals for his famed technique.

Large amount of lightning chakra appeared in his palm and started growing in power. The chakra became visible and started crackling. Zabuza's eyes widened when he saw and felt the amount of chakra that was being surged into Kakashi's palm.

Kakashi looked at Zabuza, his eyes shadowed slightly from top by his hair, but illuminated on the bottom by the lightning chakra that cracked viciously. "This ends here, Zabuza…"

"Haku!"

"…Raikiri!"

* * *

Sasuke and Akiho sighed in relief. Akiho looked to her left saw that Tenrai and Mizuko were sitting on the ground, panting hardly. Their opponents were on the in front of them disarmed, bound and were bleeding from the many cuts caused by Mizuko's razor-blades and Tenrai's combo technique.

Akiho walked up to Naruto who was kneeled on the ground. He had her face in his palm, clutching it tightly. The mask was mostly shattered from the punch earlier, revealing her wide eyes that had a scared look in them. She was looking at Naruto's masked face and his blue eyes with the markings below them.

"Haku!" They heard Zabuza's voice and the girl's eyes darted to her right, seeing Zabuza with his limbs impaled by Hyo's stone spears and Kakashi who was dashing towards the Demon of the Mist at high speeds with an amazing amount of chakra in his palm that was extended forward, prepared for a stab.

"...Raikiri!"

Haku's eyes widened and she tried to stand up, kicking Naruto's leg and creating an ice mirror next to her. Naruto's eyes widened for a second before he quickly shoved his katana through her left shoulder, impaling her to the ground. The girl screamed out loud and the mirror shattered.

Everyone heard a sickening squelch of Zabuza being pierced through with Kakashi's technique. The Demon's eyes glazed and lost any life in them. Kakashi sighed in relief that it was over and pulled his hand out from Zabuza's body.

Naruto was about to deliver a fatal strike on Haku's throat with a thrust of his palm in similar fashion Kakashi did with Zabuza, but without the lightning. Sasuke's Sharingan eye widened when he saw what he was about to do and dashed forward, punching Naruto's arm. The boy's hand slipped and thrust it into the floor of the bridge, creating a half-foot deep hole.

Naruto glared at him. "What the fuck do you think you are doing Uchiha?" He growled.

Sasuke was about to speak when the girl started screaming in agony. They looked at her and noticed weird markings on her throat that traveled behind her neck. Not batting it another look, Sasuke yelled. "Akiho! She has a seal on her!"

Akiho's eyes widened and quickly darted off the ground. Everyone else, including Tazuna and Sakura ran up to the screaming girl. Akiho kneeled down and with a finger traced the seal that was turning from black to bright red at a quick pace. Her eyes widened. "That's an obedient seal with a kill switch!"

Naruto's eyes narrowed and quickly pulled the katana out of her body while Sasuke's own eye widened. That confirmed his suspicions. Akiho pondered on what to do to stop the seal from killing her. She knew that stopping a kill switch was out of her ability range, but she could stall it long enough for Minato to arrive. She grabbed the Hiraishin kunai that was on her thigh and stabbed it in the ground.

Three seconds later, a person with bright blond hair arrived. His eyes quickly fell on his slightly injured daughter and other persons, finally falling on the screaming girl. His eyes widened when he recognized the seal with only a glimpse of it.

Surprisingly, it wasn't Akiho who spoke. "Hokage-sama! Please stop the seal!" Sakura, Akiho and Kakashi looked with slight shock on Sasuke who had just begged for something. Ever since Sasuke had met the hunter-nin, his personality started slowly changing. He was no longer an arrogant asshole who would demand everything, but a more bright side like. Like as if he dropped an emotional mask.

Minato didn't say anything and quickly kneeled down. He placed his hand on the girl's temples and closed his eyes.

Everyone looked in interest at the famed Hokage in action. The seal was almost blood red when Minato placed his palms on her face. Now the color started changing from red into a darker shade of black and finally started fading. The girl's screams didn't stop during the process, but instead started screaming bloody murder. After few more seconds the seal disappeared and her screams stopped. Minato lifted up her head and took a glance on her neck. He placed his fingers in her neck and made a clockwise spin with them, making the ink that was there disappear.

Everyone looked at him in question. "She's fine. Now, what the hell is going on here?" He asked seeing the bloodied Kakashi, Naruto, Tenrai and Mizuko. Sasuke and Akiho had several senbons embedded in their bodies.

Before anyone could answer, they heard slight clapping noise while Naruto's Pesquisa picked up almost two hundred signatures on the other side of bridge. He looked up and noticed faint figures standing there. Naruto recognized them having similar rags like the scum he killed back in Tazuna's house. _'Naruto, rip them to shreds.'_ He heard the ever present Grimmjow.

_'I will.'_

He disappeared with Sonido, startling everyone and appeared few meters in front of them. He cut his thumb on the edge of his katana and did the required summoning seals.

Now every Konoha shinobi took into account the throng of thugs with a midget in front. "Well done, I was going to dispatch of them anyways." The short man with bushy brown hair, glasses and a mustache spoke. He definitely didn't take into the account that there was the strongest shinobi alive with them, as he was overconfident having few hundred mercenaries on his disposal.

"Kill them all, but leave the girls for later fun." He snorted while his men laughed.

"Kuchiyose no jutsu!" They heard Naruto's shout, and in a big plume of smoke appeared something that sent shivers down everyones' spines. Around Naruto were roughly eighty human sized panthers.

A panther in front of Naruto looked at their summoner. "Naruto, I know you said you'll need my help again, but summoning ENTIRE clan?" The panther growled and looked at the throng of humans in front of them. "I see…"

"Sorry for that Kuro, but we're exhausted." Naruto panted out. The summoning of almost eighty predators was surely taxing.

Minato and everyone else stood there flabbergasted at the sight of Naruto who had summoned an incredible amount of summons that he could still stand. _'What the hell…' _He thought and looked at the sharply breathing Haku who had her eyes closed.

"I'll ask for report back in Konoha. I have to take her to the hospital or she will die from the trauma." He said and didn't wait for an answer as he disappeared to Konoha.

Before the panthers could engage, they heard a slight whistling noise as something flew above their heads, hitting Gato right in his forehead. His eyes widened for a second as he stumbled back and fell on the groun.

Konoha's shinobi turned around to see another throng of people with the annoying kid leading them with a pot on his head as a makeshit helmet. Tazuna's eyes widened when he recognized Inari and widened even more when he realized that Inari had just killed Gato with Kaiza's crossbow!

The mercenaries didn't even cared that Gato died as they looked at the overhelming forces of the feline predators and villagers who were armed with pitchforks and torches.

"Run for your lives!" One of thugs yelled, turned around and jumped off the bridge. Some of them followed but the rest weren't as lucky as the falange of panthers along with Naruto crashed into them like a hot knife through butter.

Some people paled when they saw carnage caused by Naruto's summons. After roughly five minutes, the slaughter ended, leaving no man alive. Gato's body was then thrown by Naruto towards the villagers who started screaming in victory.

Naruto smiled and closed his eyes, letting the gravity do the better of him. As he fell backwards, he was caught by Aoshima's body. "Easy now." She said to which Naruto simply nodded and let the sleep take him over.

Grimmjow didn't even bother to drag him into the soulscape as he let him have a decent sleep for the first time in few years.

* * *

**So how did ya like it? Was it good, bad, bad, or terrible? Please review :3 And I plan on having Sasuke as a decently nice guy, not a dick or an asshole.**

**Also, don't you worry guys. I won't focus mainly on Sasuke, but I won't focus solely on Naruto either. That is the mistake most people do, focusing on one character so we don't know shit about the other.**


	8. Chapter 8

**I finally hit 200 reviews! Thank you a lot people!**

**I do not own Naruto or Bleach.**

* * *

"Alright Grimmjow, this isn't funny." Naruto groaned as he walked through a black abyss for what seemed a few hours. "Where am I?"

He tried reaching out with his Pesquisa, but for some reason he wasn't able to use his reiryoku. Naruto didn't know when, how or why he was here. Instead of being in his soulscape training with Grimmjow, he was now in a dark abyss god knows where.

"Seriously, what the fuck is going on here!" Naruto shouted in outrage - again - for what seemed a tenth time in the last few hours.

He tensed and quickly turned around when his instincts warned him. Naruto was met with the sight of two faintly glowing eyes. One dark blue, almost black and the second was green with a hint of gold in the middle. For some reason they seemed a bit familiar to him.

A raspy chuckle resonated through the area. _"You would think that you're ready."_ The mysterious disembodied voice spoke... _"That you can handle the burden, that is about to fall onto your shoulders?"_

Naruto shifted into a defensive position and his hand traveled to his tattoo. "Who are you?" He said and released his katana, or at least it was supposed to release.

Instead of his blade, the only thing that was released was an empty scabbard. _'The fuck?!' _He inwardly yelled in outrage.

His eyes widened when he heard a slight movement and lifted the scabbard with both of his arms. A heavy weight was pushed onto his arms as he felt that he blocked something with the sheath. Two large orbs, the same pair of eyes that he saw earlier, glowed in front of him. Suddenly he felt the air being pushed out of his lungs as a limb punched his chest.

He felt himself being thrown away. How far, he didn't know as the only thing he could see was his own body and the scabbard. "Just, what are you?" Naruto questioned the strange being that engaged him.

_"Oh, you don't know me? That saddens me… no, that enrages me!" _A growl was heard through the abyss and suddenly Naruto felt a row of teeth being plunged through his arm. With a sickening squelch and sound of broken bones, Naruto could see that is arm, was ripped off halfway to the elbow.

He clenched his teeth as he felt the pain, but shoved the stinging and burning feeling away. "Bastard…"

_"A bastard you say? You dare to call __**me**__ a bastard?!" _Naruto's eyes widened slightly as he felt a large claw rip through his stomach. He fell on the ground bleeding heavily and suddenly he felt that his energy was being drained. _"You want to know who am I? Fine then, I am what you would call your own pride or honor! I'm the embodiment of your pride and honor, those powerful things that you shoved away for your useless perception of the world!"_

Naruto tried to speak, but the only thing that he uttered out was a gurgle as he felt himself drowning in his own blood. _"I will come back to test you, boy. You won't become what you are destined to be unless you slay me…"_

* * *

Naruto's eyes opened as he shot up in the bed panting heavily. He clutched his chest where his heavily pounding heart was. He noticed a wet towel that fell off his forehead and looked around. White walls, a bed, hospital gown… _'Yep, I'm in the hospital.'_

_'Naruto!'_ He heard Grimmjow's voice.

_'I'm here, what happened?'_

_'I tried reaching to you for almost a week!' _Grimmjow yelled, though Naruto could sense a bit of relief in his voice.

Then Naruto's eyes widened _'What the fuck do you mean a week!'_ He yelled and then noticed few objects that he missed when he woke up. Around his bed were several bouquets of flowers with cards strapped onto them and few gifts. Beside the bed was sleeping Aoshima. For what reason, Naruto couldn't place a finger on.

_'When you lost consciousness on the bridge, I let you sleep. Ever since you wouldn't wake up no matter what I or your friends tried. Can you remember anything?' _Grimmjow explained and asked.

Naruto placed a finger on his forehead, trying to recall anything. Then the memories of him being powerless against an entity he haven't seen earlier hit him. _'I was in a black abyss, fighting with a strange creature.' _Grimmjow's eyes narrowed, as this seemed painfully familiar to what he experienced in the past. _'It spoke something about being embodiment of my pride and honor, and it was pissed off, I can't really remember. It's like a memory of a dream after you wake up.'_

The Arrancar that was sealed within Naruto hummed to himself. _'Sorry Naruto, I have no idea what that was.'_ Grimmjow answered.

Naruto didn't explain but stared at the white wall in front of him. He noticed that his clothes were on a desk next to his bed. The boy grabbed them and quickly dressed up.

While he was doing it, Aoshima woke up. "That's a relief that you're already awake."

Naruto looked at the human-sized panther and smiled slightly. "Yeah. You were protecting me or what?"

Aoshima stretched her body and jumped on the bed. "You could say so. The entire clan was worried about you - what happened?"

Naruto scratched back of his head and resealed his katana. The blade appeared, much to Naruto's relief and sealed it back again. "Some problems with my soul that neither I or Grimmjow can explain." He answered.

"I see, you know how long exactly you was sleeping?" The panther asked.

Before Naruto could explain, a familiar voice beat him to it. "Exactly six days and twenty hours."

Naruto turned to the source of the voice that stood in the door frame and his eyes narrowed. There, standing was no one other than Namikaze Minato. "Mind telling me what happened all the way from the beginning of your hunt to the end of the Wave mission?" He asked and placed a palm on the wall. The door behind him made a slight click while the windows darkened. A large array of black seals appeared on the walls of the room before they vanished.

Naruto looked curiously at the man. "What did you just do?"

Minato looked at him silently for a second. "I sealed the room. No one will know of what is spoken here and at the same time it'll prevent you escaping." He explained.

Minato narrowed his eyes while Aoshima jumped in front of the kage, standing protectively in front of Naruto. "If you'll try any tricks, the entire panther clan along with others will be on your ass!" She growled at the man that Naruto disliked greatly.

Minato raised his arms in front of him. "No worries, I do not plan on doing anything to Naruto." He assured, but the panther didn't move an inch until Naruto placed a palm on her head.

"Calm down, Ao." He said, making the panther look at him.

"Fine, but I won't move."

Naruto sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Alright, what do you want to know?"

Minato eyed him for a second before smirking. "Chunin Jaegerjaquez, state your report all the way from your hunt-mission till the end of the Wave-mission."

Naruto's eyes widened a bit when Minato called him a chunin. "I got promoted?"

Minato nodded. "Considering that Hebun and Hasu took down two famous B-ranked shinobis on their own, they were promoted as well, congratulations. You'll be doing a lot of patrolling missions on the country's borders so enjoy your rest as much as you can. Now tell me your version of what happened."

Naruto placed a finger under his jaw and started explaining everything that happened on the two missions. He went through explaining the hunt – the corpses of Water Country merchants, the information gathering in the mining village, the obliteration of the mercenary camp and the wave mission. How Naruto got rid of a camp of Gato's thugs, how and when they protected Tazuna, Naruto's rant on Inari and finally the fight on the bridge.

"So you summoned eighty panthers like this one here?" Minato asked, pointing down at Aoshima.

"Hey, I have a name you know!" Aoshima growled annoyed, but Minato shrugged it off.

Naruto chuckled. "Yeah, the amount of Reiryoku I have is equivalent to that of amount a five tailed Bijuu can hold, I just mixed it up with Chakra and bam – I summoned half of the clan."

The Hokage rubbed his forehead before sighing. He clutched two scrolls that were strapped to his belt and threw them to Naruto, who caught them easily. "The larger one has a payment that of an A-ranked mission, food and water rations for two weeks and a Chunin west along with documents that confirm that you are a Chunin. The second one is much more important so check it out immediately." Minato explained.

Naruto nodded and unsealed the scroll. Inside it was small scroll that looked exactly like a mission scroll and another scroll that had the Uzumaki insignia on. He looked curiously at the one with Uzumaki's swirl and then opened the mission briefing scroll. His eyes slowly widened as they darted through the sentences on the scroll. He looked up to Minato with disbelief in his eyes. "Are you fucking serious?"

Minato nodded grimly. "Your team was already dispatched out on the field. They are placing the seals all around Konoha as we speak. However what I want you to do is something else."

Naruto crossed his arms. "I'm listening."

Minato looked at him before speaking. "I did some background check on your training and read the reports on the mission. That technique of yours that lets you move at high speeds, it's similar to my Hiraishin, isn't it?"

Naruto shook his head. "It's not a teleportation technique, but it lets me move at speeds higher than the body flicker and I can use it constantly. My body is durable enough to resist the strain of high speeds and there is no Chakra slamming feedback." He explained.

Minato nodded, slightly amazed by the technique. The Chakra feedback was a result of using Chunshin in quick bursts, which resulted in the chakra that wasn't used up on the 'jump' slamming back into the chakra-coils, straining them greatly.

"Still, you are second fastest person in the village after me. Even Gai can't move at such speed for long duration. I can't risk sending a hawk messenger in case it gets intercepted. Your mission is to hand the scroll with the Uzumaki insignia to the new Mizukage." Minato explained to which Naruto's eyes narrowed.

"Isn't Kirigakure at war?"

Minato shook his head. "It had been over for eight months now, the new Mizukage, Terumi Mei is related to the Uzumaki clan, and therefore is Kushina's cousin. I'm sending you because no matter what – you are related to Kushina in a small bit."

Naruto's face didn't even twitch. "You did a DNA test on me, did you?"

Minato nodded. "Unfortunately, we're not related anymore. It really interested Tsunade as my genes perished, but Kushina's persisted, even if in a smallest bit."

Naruto sighed. There was nothing he could do about it as Grimmjow assured him that his genes finished changing few months ago. "Whatever, so I'm supposed to go there, tell Mizukage that I am related to her and Kushina and give that Uzumaki scroll of yours? Why do you want me to hand it to her?" Naruto questioned.

Minato folded is arms and turned to the shadowed window. "Suna will break the peace treaty and engage us during the Chunin exams as you were briefed in the scroll. Even though Konoha is a death zone for them because of my Hiraishin, we need allies. Kirigakure is a perfect choice since they need a supply support we can provide. You may even meet few of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist if they are alive." He explained and smirked when he saw a glint of excitement in Naruto's eyes.

"I'm in. When do I leave?"

"As soon as you can, and do not let anyone intercept the scroll." Minato ordered and was about to leave the room.

"What happened to that girl?" Naruto asked out of the blue.

Minato knew that he was speaking about Haku. "She's in coma. From what Tsunade told me, she should wake up in two weeks. I don't know what happened between her and Uchiha as he wouldn't tell me, but he's by her side almost every day. By the way, go check the bridge in Wave if you come by, you'll like it." He explained with a grin, unsealed the room and left it.

Naruto sighed wondering what he meant about the bridge. "Ao, you can go now." He said to the panther that haven't moved an inch.

Aoshima turned to him and grinned. "See ya soon." She said and disappeared.

Naruto unsealed the Chunin west and grinned. Unlike the regular vest that Konoha's Chunins or Jonins held, it was in a dark grey color that matched his dark shinobi clothes. He put it on and tied it tightly. Naruto then put his bandana on and raised his mask.

_'Wonder how long it will take me to get there.' _He thought to himself.

Grimmjow yawned. _'Considering how far it is, probably five hundred miles, four to five days.'_

_'If I take breaks, that is.'_

Grimmjow snickered. _'Don't overexert yourself.'_

_'Nah, I'll be fine.' _Naruto said and opened the window. He took a single glance on the village and noticed that the sun wasn't up yet, as the village was partly dark. He sighed and jumped off the window, disappearing halfway to the ground with deep sound of static. He leaped over the roofs heading to the gate, but instead of dashing right through it, Naruto stopped when he saw a person standing there.

He landed on the ground and looked at the man. "Danzo-sensei?" He questioned. Naruto took a liking to the man after he got to know him more. Sure, the war-hawk was a person who put Konoha before everything else, but he wasn't as bad person as some people thought.

Danzo looked at Naruto and let his lips curve upwards a little bit. "I heard you were promoted to a Chunin, congratulations." He said and threw a small cube to Naruto.

Naruto opened the cube and found a small slip of paper. "What is it?" He asked mentioning the slip.

"Since you are a Chunin now, you are permitted to learn your elemental affinity. The thing you are holding is a Chakra-paper, if you channel your Chakra to it you will find out what you affinity is." Danzo explained. He lifted his palm and showed Naruto five fingers. "If the paper ignites, your affinity is fire, if it turns into dust, it is earth, if it moistens, it is water, if it get cut in half, it is wind and if the paper crumbles, it is lightning." He explained.

Naruto nodded. "So I'm supposed to channel my Chakra to it?" Seeing Danzo nod in response, Naruto channeled his Chakra to the slip in his hand.

The paper started crumbling very fast until it was crumbled into a ball before it changed into dust that poured through his fingers. Naruto raised his eyebrows in surprise, while Danzo was astonished seeing his student's affinities.

"Very good Naruto, the fact that you have two strong affinities so early on is quite surprising." Danzo admitted and pulled out two scrolls from the bag he had hung on his shoulder. He threw them to Naruto who caught them and looked at them. First one had kanji for Raiton, or lightning release while the second one had kanji for Doton, or earth release. "Read them in your spare time. They contain the basics of your affinities."

Naruto nodded. "Thanks a lot."

Danzo chuckled. "Don't mention it. Now I suppose you have a mission to do?"

Naruto agreed. "Yeah, I'll be on my way. See you Danzo-sensei!" He said and disappeared with his Sonido.

* * *

Akiho had a rather glum day. First, she wanted to speak with Sakura as the girl was somewhat scarred by the rampage that Naruto and his summons made on the bridge, but the girl refused to leave the house. Then she wanted to see if the girl that Sasuke wanted to save was awake, but the doctors refused any visitors as Sasuke coming there every day was enough.

Speaking of Sasuke, she hadn't really seen him after the mission in Wave. She caught only few glimpses of him here and there, and finally came to a conclusion that he was training with his Sharingan.

She was on her way to Naruto's room in the hospital and couldn't help but worry about her brother. He refused to wake up after that stunt on the bridge and a day later Naruto had a tremendous fever. She, her mother, Mizuko and Tenrai left some get-better gifts for him in the hospital, hoping that he would wake up soon.

She walked up the stairs to the floor where Naruto's room was with her head hung down, pondering about how her brother got so powerful so quickly. Back in academy she vowed that she would protect him, as she thought that she was much stronger than him, but what she saw in Wave changed her view on her brother.

She was a potential Chunin, and no one had doubts that she would pass the Chunin exams with flying colors, but Naruto was way ahead of her.

"Akiho-chan?" She heard the very familiar voice of her father. Akiho looked up and smiled when she saw her smiling dad. "What are you doing here?"

She smiled. "I'm visiting Naruto-kun. How is he?" Her smile faded when she saw her father's look.

"He woke up few hours ago, but-" Before he could finish, Akiho ran past him to Naruto's room. Minato sighed at his daughter's behavior and turned back around.

Akiho slammed the doors to Naruto's room open and entered it. She had a million watt smile on her face that quickly faded when she saw that there was no sight of Naruto in the room. His clothes were gone, gifts not even touched and the window was open.

"If you didn't rush that fast I would tell you that he's gone." She heard her father behind her and her shoulders slumped down.

"Where is he?"

Minato placed a hand on his daughter's head and ruffled her hair. The girl puffed her cheeks as he did, making Minato chuckle a little. "I promoted him to a Chunin today and immediately dispatched him onto the field."

"YOU MADE HIM A CHUNIN?!" Akiho yelled both in rage and disbelief. "I'm still a Genin! Why would you promote him as a Chunin before me?"

Minato raised his arms in defense. "Akiho-chan, calm down! Naruto is beyond Chunin level already and I would promote him as a Tokubetsu Jonin if he had the experience. He should be back in two or three weeks."

"A Jonin?!" Akiho yelled and stormed past her father who grinned.

He turned around to see the stomping girl. "Where are you going?"

Akiho didn't bother turning around, but yelled behind her shoulder. "Training!" And with that she ran down the stairs.

Minato sighed. He knew that Akiho needed a motivation to push her further in the training, and the fact that Naruto was stronger than her gave her the motivation she needed.

* * *

Meanwhile on the outskirts of Konoha, Mizuko and Tenrai were casually jogging around, placing the seals that their Hokage gave to them and talking with each other.

"I wonder when Naruto will wake up." Tenrai groaned. To be honest with himself, he missed the "Panther boy" as he started calling him.

Mizuko snorted. "You're deaf or what? I told you in the morning that he was dispatched to Kirigakure today." The white haired girl explained.

"What!" Tenrai shouted and stumbled over a root, falling down face first into the mud.

Mizuko facepalmed and muttered something about deaf idiots. "After Hokage-sama promoted us, it's no wonder that he was dispatched into the field immediately. Though it surprised me a little that he was sent to Kiri."

Tenrai groaned and stood up, rubbing his sore face. "If I had to guess, Hokage-sama probably sent him as an envoy." He said and took a can of water that was strapped to his belt.

"That's a good theory. Kirigakure was at war that ended eight month ago and they desperately need an ally and supplies." Mizuko added her conclusion.

Tenrai sighed as drank down the water that was in the can. "Who won the war? The loyalists or rebels?"

Mizuko shrugged her arms. "I won't cut my hand off, but I'd guess that the rebels won. Otherwise I doubt that Hokage-sama would want an alliance with Kiri."

"Why is that?" Tenrai asked curiously.

Mizuko sighed. "Dumb ass, haven't you read the bingo book or some history? The Yondaime Mizukage started the Bloodline Purges and killed most of the bloodline users in Kirigakure. That girl Haku was one of the victims." She said and sat down on the ground under a tree.

Tenrai did the same. "You didn't answer my question."

Mizuko was tempted to punch her teammate. "Use that thing that is in your skull more often! Konoha has several bloodline users, and no way in hell that the Yondaime Mizukage would agree to an alliance with us. If the rumors are right, the Godaime Mizukage is no one other that Terumi Mei, a woman that is able to use two bloodlines." She explained with annoyed voice. Mizuko pulled out a small black book and handed it to Tenrai. "Seek under S-class and find Terumi Mei."

Tenrai nodded and shuffled through the pages of the bingo book and finally came to the page with said new Mizukage. His eyes widened slightly when he read her profile. He gave of a whistle. "She's pretty good looking too."

"Don't tempt me to punch you." Mizuko growled.

Tenrai's tensed and nodded. "Sorry."

The white haired girl sighed again. "Whatever, let's get back to work. Those seals won't place themselves, will they?"

"Please do, please do, please do." She sweatdropped when she saw Tenrai bowing to the stack of seals.

"Annoying!" Mizuko yelled and kicked her teammate hard, sending him through the trees.

* * *

Halfway to the land of Waves, Naruto winced as he felt that someone got obliterated by Mizuko. _'Whoever it was, may your soul rest in peace.' _He gave a short prayer, getting a laugh from Grimmjow.

_'I'm betting one thousand ryo that it was Tenrai.'_

Naruto snickered. _'You have no money in there, therefore you have no power here!'_ He answered with a joke.

_'Shut up, you're being annoying.' _Grimmjow growled to him.

_'Hypocrite.' _Naruto chided in.

Grimmjow developed a tick mark on his forehead. _'Care to repeat?'_

_'Nah' _Naruto answered and cut the link with Grimmjow.

The blue haired Arrancar sighed and sat down on a white block in the endless soulscape. He grabbed his katana that was stabbed into the ground and placed it on his lap. Grimmjow closed his eyes in a great focus. After several minutes, a white substance started oozing off Grimmjow's stomach where the ever present hollow hole was.

The ooze landed on the ground and started taking a form of a large animal, with detail that came quickly and filled in the form. In front of Grimmjow appeared a large, human-sized panther with white bone instead of fur, blue eyes and black markings on its body here and there.

The panther stretched a little before looking at Grimmjow. "That's rare for you to summon that hidden part of you, Grimmjow." The panther said with voice way to similar to Grimmjow's.

The arrancar looked at the hollow part of his soul and nodded to it. "Pantera." He said the panther's name. "I wanted to clarify something, you aren't testing Naruto – do you?"

"Now, why would I do that?" Pantera answered looking around.

Grimmjow scratched the side of his head. "Something attacked him when he was unconscious, and I suspect that it's _him._" He explained grimly.

Any sign of relax that Pantera showed disappeared quickly and was replaced by tension. "If what you presume is right, Naruto has no chance against such enemy without him mastering my Resurrection." The panther spoke.

Grimmjow nodded. "To think that he would resurface… I'll summon you later on, I plan on kicking up Naruto's training a lot."

"You do that. I doubt that Rikudo is satisfied with his current level of abilities, not if the prophecy was right." Pantera said and its body started melting back into the white ooze. "Ja ne, Grimmjow."

The white substance rushed back into Grimmjow's body making him wince slightly. When it was finished, he looked up at the stars and closed his eyes. This was so troublesome.

Naruto wanted to take a quick glance on the bridge in Wave before he headed to the land of Noodles and travel from there to Kirigakure. He flashed through the forest that was close to the new bridge before he noticed the large structure. He landed on a branch and looked at it.

Due to the mist and the fact it was still quite early, he had to come up closer and he did so. Naruto definitely didn't regret doing that. When he saw the entrance to the bridge, he whistled in amazement and Grimmjow did the same.

_'I've got to admit, that's quite amazing.' _Grimmjow said.

Naruto nodded to himself as he looked at the two high monuments made of granite that were sculpted into two standing panthers that guarded the entrance to the bridge. It was quite an art and the fact that it was done in at most a week, amazed Naruto even more.

He walked up to a large stone table that was on the left side of the bridge and grinned. There on the granite was engraved, for the lack of better words, a short story. From the left to right was Sakura protecting Tazuna, Zabuza fighting with Hyo and Kakashi, Akiho and Sasuke fighting Haku in the dome and Tenrai with Mizuko fighting with the two Suna shinobi.

_'Speaking of with, what happened to them?' _Naruto thought.

Grimmjow was quiet at first as he admired the piece of art. _'How am I supposed to know?'_

Naruto shook his head and checked out the rest of the table. The next scenes showed defeated Haku, the two Suna shinobi and Zabuza, and continued to Minato's appearance when he took Haku to Konoha followed by Inari nailing Gato in the forehead with his crossbow and the massacre done by the panthers and Naruto that followed.

Everything was done in smallest detail and Naruto suspected that it had to be done by several dozen of people for it to be done so quickly. Under the engraved story was a writing that Naruto read out loud.

"The Konoha's Shinobi heroic victory against Gato the Dictator." Naruto read with a grin.

"You like it, don't you? We even named it "The Panther's Bridge", quite fitting don't you think?" Naruto heard a voice and turned around to see a man in his thirties carrying a large basket on his shoulder.

Naruto raised an eyebrow and nodded. "Quite a lot…"

The man in front of him laughed. "I see you're in hurry, I won't be stopping you. Just remember to stop by sometime around." The man said and walked past Naruto.

Naruto nodded to himself with a smile and disappeared with the sound of static, resuming his travel to Kirigakure no Sato.

Few days later Naruto noticed large blue gates at the horizon. The area he was running through still showed some signs of war like a random bit of steel or bone here and there along with some destroyed trees, but it wasn't as bad as he thought. The thick fauna covered any other signs of battles anyway.

The gates to Kirigakure looked quite old if the painting that was peeling off wasn't just for looks. Large amount of thick, green plants grew on top of the gate as well as the rest of the walls, giving a beautiful expression. The gates were currently closed. Not a surprise considering the fact that it was early morning.

While he was traveling, nothing much happened. He had taken two or three breaks for a few hours to restore his strength and read through the scrolls that Danzo gave him. He had begun with the scroll on lightning affinity as it was something that interested both him and Grimmjow. The first step was to channel lightning affinity into a special light bulb, making it glow brighter and brighter until it exploded. After it's done few dozen times he would have continued to the next step.

He had no time to train though as he was in hurry, so he decided to train when he came back to Konoha.

_'You know you'll have to behave like you're Kushina's cousin and be polite? That's not Konoha so if you don't grab yours… ours temper, we'll be in deep shit.' _Grimmjow pointed out.

Naruto rolled his eyes. _'Yeah, yeah.' _He answered and appeared in front of the gates. If the village's security was good they should have picked his presence up a few minutes ago. He reached back with his arm and banged twice on the humongous gate.

A few moments later, he picked up several powerful signatures with his Pesquisa. They were closing in very fast from the village. A heartbeat later he found himself surrounded with several swords that almost pierced his body, but they stopped half an inch before they touched his skin.

He took a quick glance at the people surrounding him. They were wearing pale blue outfits with masks similar to those of Konoha's ANBU that covered their faces.

"Identify yourself!" An ANBU in front of him barked. Naruto slowly and calmly raised his hand to the bandana making the ANBU tense a little and lifted it, revealing his Konoha headband.

"I bring an important message from the Hokage to Godaime Mizukage, Terumi Mei." Naruto calmly answered, somewhat surprised by the strict defenses Kirigakure had. Konoha was looser on security than the village here.

The ANBU eyed him, not believing Naruto's words. Before he could speak, another person arrived with a body flicker. He had blue hair, similar to Naruto, an eye patch on his right eye that strangely reminded Naruto of a seal and had earring in his earlobes.

He wore gray-blue outfit and had a steel look on his face, similar to the look Naruto saw on faces of Konoha's veterans.

"Ease up men, he's expected." The man assured making the ANBU lower their weapons. However, the blue haired man grabbed Naruto's collar and spoke to him harshly. "However, if you try anything against our village, you won't live to see the sunset."

Naruto looked at him with bored look in his eyes. He had no doubts that he could easily escape the village with his Sonido. After all, even Minato admitted that he's the second fastest shinobi in Konoha. Naruto nodded to the man in front of him.

All ANBU except two disappeared and they lead Naruto through the village. Naruto took the opportunity to take a look on how the village prospered. There was a lot of movement even though it was early morning. There was a large amount of Kirigakure's shinobi running around, probably being dispatched for missions and the amount of military units was larger than the civilians Naruto saw.

There was definitely more shinobi on the streets than in Konoha, but that didn't mean they had larger military than Konoha. The core of Konoha's military was the ROOT and Naruto knew that fact very well, being trained by the ROOT commander and the third in command. ROOT made up over one fourth of Konoha's shinobi, and considering the fact that ROOT was always in shadows, never showing themselves to anyone except Minato or Danzo, with exception of Naruto and his team as they were trained by them, it would fool many to think that Konoha's forces were smaller.

If anything threatened Konoha, the ROOT shinobi would swarm out and take out the threat immediately. They were trained more harshly than regular shinobi that filled the Chunin and Honin ranks, and ROOT focused on quality, not quantity, a fact that Sandaime Hokage had disregarded.

However, in the past, Kirigakure had the mighty Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, a truly fearsome and deadly sect of shinobi that was mostly wiped out in the last fifteen years.

Naruto took into notice the way Kirigakure was built. Due to the ever present mist, the fauna was very thick and the visibility was worse than usual. The way the village was built was entirely different than Konoha that was rather tight due to the amount of people living there.

Instead of straight districts with a building next to a building, the structures were placed rather loosely, but it was recompensed by the height of the buildings. Skyscrapers as tall as the Hokage tower in Konoha towered over the streets. As every other building in the village there was a large amount of rain forest plants growing on top of the skyscrapers. There were smaller buildings placed on the small hills and few buildings – probably shinobi headquarters – built into the mountains that surrounded Mizukage's office.

Mizukage's headquarter was rather impressive building. It was placed on top of a high substructure that was nearly as high as the skyscrapers in the village. A river ran under it and the only way to enter the building was through the overpass that was above the bridge.

The streets were in most part covered by the shadow of large rainforest trees and bushes that had grown on the sides. Most of people Naruto noticed on the streets were pale from the lack of sunlight as the ever present mist covered the sky.

As they were walking through the streets, the few people who were awake by now gave nods of respect to the blue haired man that led Naruto and few stares of curiosity to Naruto. "That's quite a nice village, entirely different from Konoha."

"It isn't as great as it was before. Back in my days this village prospered as one of the leading villages in military. We could even stand up to Kumo, but the Second, Third Great Shinobi Wars and Yondaime Mizukage's Bloodline Purges have taken its toll on our economy and military." He said and extended his hand to Naruto. "By the way, my name is Ao."

Naruto looked at the hand and grabbed it. "Jaegerjaquez Naruto." He said and shook the hand.

"That's a unusual name." Ao pointed out, making Naruto scoff.

"Please, that's coming from a man whose name means 'blue'." Naruto joked chuckling slightly.

Ao laughed too a little. "Do you originate from Mizu no Kuni?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the question. "Why do you suspect that I'm from around here?"

"Your hair is blue. That's very common around here." Ao said pointing to Naruto's blue bangs of hair that stuck out from under his bandana.

Naruto grabbed his bandana and removed it along with his mask. "I didn't know that Konoha takes place in Mizu no Kuni." He joked sarcastically making Ao chuckle a little.

"Never mind that. We're here." Ao said pointing to the large building that towered over the others. "Now, when you will be in Mizukage-sama's presence, be extremely polite and careful with your words."

"Gosh, I hate being polite." Naruto groaned getting a bark of laugh from Grimmjow. They proceed walking over the overpass that ran above the river, which was extremely raging and had several whirlpools in it. _'In case of a siege they could just destroy the overpass. There is no fucking way anyone could get through that giant river.' _Naruto thought to himself and looked at the walls. _'This shit is like a fucking bunker!'_

Ao walked up to the steel doors and pushed them open. He motioned Naruto to come in to which he obliged. As they walked up several floors, Naruto admired the statues that were lined up in the halls. Every single of them represented a respected Kiri shinobi. Every past and present member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist had his or her statue.

There were some statues of shinobi that Naruto suspected were of other ranks.

At the end of the hall on sides of the large brown doors stood three large statues made of obsidian. First one resembled a man in his forties. He was tall and had hair that was slicked back, a moustache and a goatee. The second one resembled a rather short teen with hair of average length. He had a scar on his face that went from above his left eye to his lower left cheek.

The last one resembled a woman in her twenties. She had a _very _sweet smile on her face and her hair was long, that almost resembled a pine tree. Her _attributes _were impressive as well.

"Who are they?" Naruto asked pointing to the statues.

Ao's head turned to the monuments. "Oh, they are our three last Mizukages, from right is our current beloved Godaime Mizukage-sama, Terumi Mei, Yondaime Mizukage, Yagura and Nidaime Mizukage. We don't really know much about previous Mizukages due to Kiri's secrecy. The only thing that is clear is that Nidaime was a member of Hozuki clan." Ao explained.

Naruto nodded in understanding. He followed Ao as he banged on the door. A muffled voice ordered them to come in and they did so.

When Naruto entered the room he almost stumbled. The room was humongous. It would easily fit a hundred shinobi and the Mizukage was seated in the middle behind a desk that was elevated. Around it were several seats that made a half circle. The walls were painted blue and a large screen of windows was on the other side of wall.

Naruto looked at the Mizukage and Grimmjow whistled. The woman definitely looked much better live than on the statue. She had long auburn hair that was painfully similar to Akiho's, though a shade darker. Her lips had a blue lipstick and she wore a long blue dress.

Ao nudged him in his ribs. "Bow." He said and bowed. Naruto followed the suit.

Terumi Mei laughed at their strictness. "Ease up Ao, no need to plaster such a handsome young man with formalities." She said with a smile that unnerved the older man.

"Mizukage-sama… please, he's not older than fourteen-" He whined, but got shut up by Mei's sharp look that made him pale.

The Mizukage motioned Naruto to come closer, which he obliged. "I got a message from the Hokage that he sent an envoy who is my relative… what is your name?"

Ao's eyes widened when he heard Mei's words. "You are Mizukage-sama's relative?"

Naruto sighed and scratched his head. "I guess. I'm a distant cousin to Uzumaki Kushina and I heard that Uzumaki are related to Terumi."

Mei nodded. "We were a branch clan of the Uzumaki clan a century ago before we broke off." She explained. "You still didn't answer my question."

"Jaegerjaquez Naruto." Naruto answered simply, trying not to get on the woman's nerves. With his Pesquisa, he noticed that Mizukage's chakra level was terrifyingly humongous.

"Who are your parents?"

"Jaegerjaquez Grimmjow and an Uzumaki I don't know of. They're both dead." He told a half-lie. Grimmjow was technically his father now and he was and will be dead, but Kushina was pretty much alive.

Mei nodded and wrote it down. "Rank, age and the purpose you were sent here for?"

Naruto resisted the urge to groan. "Chunin, age thirteen, I'm here to deliver a scroll." He said and raised his palm to the tattoo on his arm. With a twist of his finger appeared a small cloud of smoke.

In his hand was a scroll that Minato had given him. Naruto looked up and saw that between him and the Mizukage was a person who wielded a rather large and weird looking sword.

"Chojuro, you're being overprotective again." Mei sighed. "If he tried anything I would have handled it."

"I-I apologize." The boy said.

Chojuro had short, tufty blue hair, and dark eyes. He also had pointed, shark-like teeth. He wore square, black-rimmed glasses connected to ear protectors, a blue pin-striped shirt and camouflage pattern pants. Also, he wore his forehead protector on the front of his holster which he used to carry his sword. The sword itself was wrapped in bandages. Chojuro's sword seemed to be large and difficult to wield, but the boy didn't seem fazed holding the giant blade.

Mei smiled. "This is Chojuro, a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and my personal bodyguard. Though, he's very overprotective sometimes." The Mizukage introduced the boy.

Chojuro blushed and bowed. "F-Forgive me Mizukage-sama."

Mei waved it off. "No need to worry. Now Naruto-kun, what is this scroll?" She questioned the single scroll with a red whirl on it.

Naruto shrugged it off. "Namikaze didn't tell me what it is. He only ordered me to deliver it." He explained and handed over the scroll which Mei accepted.

"Namikaze? You mean your Hokage?" Ao asked from the sideline.

"Yes, that Namikaze." Naruto said with a little wry mouth.

Chojuro noticed that and asked. "You d-don't seem to have much r-respect for him, Naruto-san." He pointed out.

Before Naruto could answer, Mei spoke up from above the opened scroll. "Enough. Chojuro, Ao, leave." She ordered sharply.

"B-But Mizukage-sama-"

Mei's eyes were narrowed as her face took in a serious expression. "Leave us. What I'm going to speak about is only for Konoha's envoy and me." She ordered her two bodyguards.

Ao looked hesitantly at Naruto, but nodded and left the room, dragging Chojuro behind him.

As soon as they were outside, Mei adapted an unreadable expression on her face. "You know what this scroll holds?" She asked Naruto.

The boy shook his head. Even though curiosity was eating him from inside, opening the scroll earlier would be considered betrayal.

"Your Hokage want us to make a full alliance with our village, the militaristic treaty, the trade treaty and the peace treaty." She told him.

Naruto nodded. That was only natural that Konoha wanted more allies. Being an ally with Suna wasn't enough as their trust was questioning. However… "There is more to that isn't it?"

The Mizukage nodded. "He actually invites me personally to the Chunin Exams."

Naruto's eyes widened for a brief moment. Why would he invite a kage to a certain battle? There was an invasion coming at the final of the Chunin Exams and it would be dangerous for Mei to be there. Konoha was entirely littered with Minato's Hiraishin seals and the Chunins were ordered to place more in the forest around the village's walls.

"Do you think I'm that stupid?" Mei hissed at Naruto who tensed and slowly backed away. "I know what this Orochimaru of yours is planning. After all it was Kiri who handed the information about his plans to that Toad Sannin."

Naruto's eyes narrowed at the revelation. "Why would you do that?" He asked. This made no sense. Why would they give such vital information and then doubt in Konoha's trust?

"Orochimaru is an enemy of many, Naruto-kun, and you know that very well." She said and moved up closer to him.

With a quick move of her arm, Mei grabbed Naruto's collar and lifted him up. "Now tell me, Namikaze, why did you lie to me about your parentage?" She hissed and started focusing her killing intent on the boy. Much to her surprise, Naruto didn't seem to be fazed by it. She dropped him to the ground and eyed him.

Naruto scratched his hair. "Man, to think that Kiri has so many spies in Konoha, Minato wouldn't be pleased if I told him." He muttered to himself.

Mei frowned at him. "You won't even leave this room alive if you don't start being honest, Namikaze." She threatened.

"As much as I would love to see that man pissed off, I have no intentions of telling him that." He assured Mei.

The Mizukage scoffed. "Please, as if you would dislike your own father who is the strongest shinobi in the world."

"He is not my father." Naruto growled. "Do I even resemble him? I bear my father's surname, Jaegerjaquez. I might be related to Uzumaki Kushina, but no more than a cousin."

Mei had to agree that he didn't look like Minato in smallest bit. Hell, she would think that Naruto originated from Mizu no Kuni considering his hair color.

"I am just doing my job, delivering a message and nothing more, nothing less. I'm not here for an interview." Naruto continued. "I won't tell Minato about your spies in Konoha. Even if I wanted to, I have no evidence."

Mei crossed her arms. "Very well. " She answered and started writing something on another scroll. After she finished writing it, she rolled it up and placed the Mizukage's insignia on it. She handed it to Naruto and spoke. "Deliver it back to your Hokage. I disagree on the treaties, and I refuse to come to the Chunin Exam."

Naruto took the scroll and nodded and sealed it in his arm. "I have a question before I go." He told the Mizukage.

"What is it?"

"You are the Godaime, right?" He asked and when she nodded, he continued with the question. "Then why there are only three statues of you and the previous Mizukages?"

Mei chuckled at the question. "Kirigakure's past is shrouded with mystery. We only know how Nidaime looked like because we found some undamaged scroll that said a little bit about him. Even then we don't know his name – only that he was from Hozuki clan." She explained with a sigh. "No one knows who the Shodaime or Sandaime are. Most of the archives were destroyed during the Bloodline Purges."

Naruto nodded. "Thanks for the information. I'd wish to spar with one of you swordsmen, but I have to return as soon as possible." He smiled and bowed slightly to the Mizukage.

Mei raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that you don't want a rest? Travelling for two weeks must be exhausting."

Naruto snickered. "Oh, it took me three days to arrive here." He said and walked up to the window.

Mei watched him with interest. "Three days? Konoha is almost six hundred miles away from here." She questioned. A Chunin like him shouldn't be able to travel that fast.

Naruto opened the window and turned to the woman. He placed his mask and bandana back on their place and answered. "Did I say that I'm the second fastest shinobi in Konoha?" He said and disappeared with his Sonido, leaving a slight sound of static behind.

Mei's eyes widened slightly at the sheer speed he moved with. "Ao!" She shouted to behind. The doors opened immediately and Ao ran in. "Prepare a messenger hawk to Kumogakure, things will take an interesting turn soon." She ordered, thinking about what she wrote in the scroll that she gave to Naruto. _'It's better to keep some people blind from the truth.'_

* * *

Naruto ran through the forest, thinking about the meeting with Mizukage. _'It went much better than I expected.'_

_'You think so?' _He heard Grimmjow's voice.

_'Why were you so quiet?' _Naruto asked. Grimmjow didn't say a word during Naruto's talk with Mei.

Grimmjow snorted. _'Didn't feel like it.'_

The younger blue haired boy groaned _'You and your mood swings, are you sure you're not pregnant?'_

_'Where the fuck did that come from?' _Grimmjow growled with annoyance.

Naruto snickered. "Just let's get back to Konoha." He said to himself and resumed his travel back to Konohagakure.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hi there people! I'm finally back with a new chapter! Enjoy~~ **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bleach**

* * *

Naruto groaned as he sat down in front of a campfire. He had been using his Sonido for four days straight and was feeling the heavy fatigue that followed it. Even his Reiryoku reserves, as enormous as they are needed a refill.

Right now, Naruto was halfway through the Hi no Kuni on his way to Konoha and it was safe to make a campfire and rest without risk that someone would attack him. After all, the Border Patrol Unit wouldn't let anyone unauthorized enter Hi no Kuni's borders. Even Naruto had to follow the protocols when he was stopped by the Patrol Unit.

_'Why don't you open that scroll if it really bugs you?' _Grimmjow told him. Naruto's curiosity ate him from insides when he thought about what Mizukage wrote.

Naruto shook his head. _'I can't, unless I want to get a shit-storm on my ass when I'm back in Konoha. Anyways, I bet it\s only about the treaty refusal.' _He answered and nodded to himself. _'Yes, it must be just about the treaty'._

Grimmjow grunted. _'Whatever.' _

Naruto sighed and started channeling large amounts of Reiryoku to his hand. A faint red glow appeared, but nothing else happened. "How the hell am I supposed to do this?" He whined.

_'It will come eventually, just keep trying. I'm off.' _He heard Grimmjow's words and sighed as he felt him cut the link between them.

He unsealed a single scroll with the basics of Lightning affinity. His eyes darted through the scroll, trying to memorize as much as he could.

_'…lightning chakra is second hardest affinity to master, first being wind. It is like a raging current that can't be entirely controlled, but instead the person who uses it must let it flow with its will. By that principle, it would not be possible to use lightning chakra effectively, but this is where chakra manipulation comes in. Due to the general nature or chakra, you will be able to shape the lightning to your will. However, before you try anything, you will have to learn how to access the lightning chakra. _

_Use a light bulb and try slowly channeling your chakra to it. Too much, and the bulb will explode, while too little won't light it up. Repeat the process until you can access the desired amounts of chakra at your will. If you can't access your lightning chakra, try thinking of a thunderbolt and change frequencies of your chakra flow until you find the right one which uses lightning chakra.'_

Under the manual was a small storage seal with a mysterious kanji for 'bulb'. Naruto channeled some of his chakra into the seal and in his hand appeared a small bulb.

"Alright, here I go." He though and started channeling his chakra into the bulb. At first, nothing happened like he suspected so he decided to follow the instructions. Naruto closed his eyes and imagined a thunderstorm while he kept a steady flow of chakra into the bulb. Slowly, he started changing frequencies of his chakra flow, trying to find the right one.

He smirked when he felt that the flow of his chakra changed, but his smile disappeared when he heard a slight 'crack'. Naruto opened his eyes and saw that the bulb shattered. _'Damn it.'_ He cursed and got a new one.

Naruto repeated the process until the very dawn, not even noticing that so much time had passed. Eventually, about half an hour ago Naruto managed to access his lightning chakra with the right amount, so the bulb wouldn't explode. He repeated the process of accessing it until he got a hang of it when he heard Grimmjow's voice.

_'You're still practicing? Did you even sleep?'_

Naruto's head jerked up and he looked at his surroundings. The campfire was gone for a long time and the sun started peek through the trees. _'I didn't even notice that I did it for so long.'_

_'So what were you doing actually?' _Grimmjow asked. He was quite surprised that Naruto didn't come to his soulscape to train.

Naruto stood up and sealed away the scroll. _'I was just trying to grab a hold onto my lightning affinity.' _He answered and started walking towards Konoha. _'It went quite well, I'll have to ask sensei for some pointers though.'_

_'Remember that you have Resurrection training to finish.' _Grimmjow added. _'That is your main priority now, not some lightning training.'_

_'I need to know two affinities to become a full-fledged jonin, you know?' _Naruto answered.

To become a jonin, one had to be able of using two different affinities. One that was his primary and another that was secondary. He also needed to have experience of leading a team and be able to quickly solve problems that occur during a mission. Ability of using every shinobi art to an extent was crucial as well.

There were more requirements to become a jonin, but he would worry about that later.

Grimmjow pondered about it for a while. _'You never told me what is your goal or dream in your life. Though, I bet that you want to become a jonin?' _He asked his son.

Naruto stopped in his tracks, thinking about the question. _'Honestly… I want to become an ANBU, maybe an ANBU commander.'_ He answered.

The older arrancar wasn't satisfied by the answer. _'That's easy for you to achieve, and after you achieve that, there won't be anything that would push you forward.'_

Naruto rubbed his chin in a deep thought. _'What is you dream then, Grimmjow?'_

Grimmjow chuckled at the question. _'I'll tell you that before I… arrived here, I wanted to be the strongest Vasto Lorde in Hueco Mundo. However, that goal was thrown out through the window after I died. But now, I want to mold you into a finest warrior in this world, so strong that you might stand up to that Rikudo Sennin.' _He explained with pride in his voice.

Naruto stumbled when he heard his words. _'As much as I would love that, you know that there is no fucking way in hell that any of us could stand up to him?'_ He grunted, making Grimmjow smirk. _'By the way, you got any ideas on what the fuck was that thing which attacked me few days back?'_

Naruto's father was silent for a moment. _'I'll tell you once you achieve the Resurrection.'_

_'So you know.'_

_'Yes, I do. And don't even bother Pantera about it, he knows it as well, but we won't tell you until you achieve the Resurrection. Until then, we're forcing it away from you.' _Grimmjow explained, getting an annoyed huff from Naruto.

_'Why not now?'_

_'This is something that you can't take on right now.'_ A new voice resonated in Naruto's head, which he quickly recognized as Pantera's own voice. _'Even Grimmjow couldn't stand up to it with his Resurrection. However, we know that in time, you will be able to handle it.'_ Pantera said with a wild and dangerous, yet wise voice.

_'Pantera? That's rare for you to speak with us.' _Naruto exclaimed his surprise.

Pantera grunted when he noticed Grimmjow's surprise. _'If I didn't tell you, you would bug Grimmjow about it forever. Now, give up your damn shinobi training and focus solely on the Resurrection.' _The hollow soul ordered with an annoyed voice.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. Yes, he wanted to complete the Resurrection, but he didn't want to give up his shinobi training. He wouldn't get so much spare time to train as he was a chunin now. _'I want to be a jonin-'_

_'Naruto.' _He heard and shuddered slightly. Grimmjow was pissed, and when he's pissed, you fucking run away. _'I believe you remember what I told you about Rikudo? You can resume your training as soon as we're done with Resurrection but if you want to object, get in here and fucking show me that you don't need it!'_ Grimmjow's tone increased with every word, and he was almost shouting at the end.

Naruto gulped. Sure, there weren't many things that could scare or inflict pain on him, but one thing that could do both of those was definitely Grimmjow. He knew that his father held incredible power, one that could probably surpass Minato if he really pushed himself.

In the end, Naruto gave in. _'Fine. But we'll accomplish it in two years.' _He said, getting two chuckles in return.

_'That's what I wanted to hear. Your swordsmanship is good enough. Therefore we'll focus solely on Cero and Resurrection and hand-to-hand combat.' _Grimmjow told him the plan for future training. _'And before you question, with Resurrection you won't be able to use your sword.'_

Naruto nodded in understanding. He knew the basics of Resurrection to an extent, but not overly much. _'So, is there anything you want to tell me about Resurrection?' _The blue haired teen asked.

_'Yeah, your fucking motto is a problem.' _Grimmjow said bluntly.

Naruto blinked at the exclamation. _'What? Why is it?' _He sounded a little bit angry that there was a problem with his motto, as he followed it. It gave him strength and dedication to being a shinobi.

_'You remember how you told us about that thing bitching about your honor and pride that you threw away?' _Pantera said the question.

Naruto scratched his temple in a thought and confirmed it few seconds later. _'What about it?'_

_'We're both fucking pissed at you as well._' Grimmjow growled, taking Naruto aback.

The boy stopped walking and raised his eyebrows. If anyone could see him, they would think that he was retarded as he was randomly stopping his walk to nod or raise and eyebrow, sometimes throwing a curse. _'Are you?'_ Naruto asked.

_'Pride was something that we cherished the most, Naruto. Honor, not that much since it was either kill or be killed in Hueco Mundo. But pride was our drive – and you threw it away just because you want to be a standard shinobi!' _Grimmjow shouted angry. He wanted to tell Naruto about it for quite some time. _'You can keep the part about honor being useless, because I wouldn't care less about it. Pride and power was everything to me when I was the Panther King.' _The older arrancar explained.

Naruto rubbed his forehead._ 'This is so troublesome.' _He muttered to himself.

_'Don't go all Nara on us, Naruto. Your feeling of pride is necessary for you to achieve Resurrection. Don't ask us why, it just works this way.' _Pantera explained and cut the connection to the duo.

Naruto's head perked up when he sensed several medium sized chakra signatures enter the proximity of his Pesquisa. He grinned when he recognized two of them. With a quick burst of speed via his Sonido to gain momentum, Naruto ran towards his teammates.

He raised an eyebrow when he noticed from a distance that Mizuko and Tenrai were shouting at each other. A large stack of seals was lying littered on the ground next to them, which was probably the reason the two were arguing.

Naruto winced when he saw that Mizuko kicked Tenrai _hard_ in the place that definitely hurt. Having enough, Naruto made his presence known.

"Yo." He exclaimed in a very Kakashi-ish way. Mizuko turned around and her eyes widened slightly when she noticed Naruto.

"Naruto!" She exclaimed with surprise, and then she jumped onto him and hugged him. After a moment she released him. "I was so worried, first you went to coma and when you woke up you were sent to Kiri rightaway."

Naruto chuckled at her behavior. Mizuko was a close friend to him. That he couldn't deny. Two weeks after their team was formed, it felt like Naruto, Tenrai and Mizuko knew each other for a very long time. Since both Mizuko and Tenrai were parentless, they decided to live together in a small apartment in the Shinobi district, and when Naruto excommunicated himself from the Namikaze clan, they welcomed him to their house. There was little space in the small apartment for three persons, but it felt homey. Even if it was quite crowded, they divided the monthly payment on three, so they had plenty of money to spare for their own.

"I was fine, how about you guys?" He asked and then pointed to Tenrai who was lying on the ground in a fetal position. "And do I want to know why he's half-dead, again?"

Mizuko rubbed her shoulder and smiled. "We're and other chunins are supposed to place Hokage-sama's seals in the proximity of ten miles around Konoha, the security stuff and such, but that idiot placed them wrong." She said pointing at Tenrai

Naruto deadpanned. "How so?"

Mizuko took out two sheets of seals and showed them to Naruto. "This one is an invisibility seal, and the second one is a security-seal I suppose. Instead of planting the invisibility seal on top of that other one, he did it the wrong way." She groaned. "And now we have to find all the wrong ones."

Naruto took the seals that she didn't know of and his eyes widened. "This is…!" He muttered, catching Mizuko's attention. _'So he wants to eliminate the invasion himself before it even reaches Konoha's walls, clever.'_

"You know that seal?" Mizuko asked with narrowed eyes. "What is it?"

Naruto looked intently at the seal for a second. "It's a beacon for Minato's Hiraishin."He explained.

When Naruto was younger, probably five or six years old, he was interested in seals that Minato pondered over. Minato actually taught him few things about the seals, but not very much – one of things he learned was the shape of Hiraishin's beacon formula.

Mizuko's eyes widened when she heard Naruto's words. "How do you… forget it, I don't even want to know." She waved it off and turned to Tenrai who already stood up, although shakily. "Get your shit together and fix those seals! Naruto will help us." She said and turned to Naruto to see that he wasn't there.

She quickly looked around and noticed that he was running away. "Naruto! Get back here!" Mizuko yelled.

Naruto grinned. "It's your job! I have to report the mission anyways!" He shouted behind his shoulder and disappeared in the forest, not letting Mizuko chase him.

"Damn him!" The girl cursed and turned to the stack of seals that was on the ground. She glared at it with her eyes and growled. "Place yourself, god damn it!"

* * *

Naruto appeared in front of the Hokage tower with his Sonido, thinking about if he should tell Minato about Kirigakure's spies or not.

_'I vote no. That's an unnecessary risk and you have no evidence. It could be anyone. Minato could even suspect you.' _Grimmjow calmly pointed out.

Naruto pulled down his mask and scratched his chin. _'Good point. As much I would love to see him pissed off, that won't work.'_

Even if Naruto told Minato about that, Minato would keep his cool. He wasn't called a living legend and a genius for nothing, his mental fortitude and cunning were as dangerous as his performance in combat. Even his political knowledge was enormous, which along with his persuasion capabilities made him a dangerous person – both in the field and in office.

_'So, what will you tell him?' _Grimmjow asked.

Naruto shrugged. _'Nothing if he does not ask.'_ He answered. Naruto's mission was a simple delivery, not a recon task.

Without another thought, Naruto entered the building and quickly made his way up the stairs to the last floor where Hokage's office was stationed. As he walked, he compared how Kiri's Mizukage building looked to Hokage's.

The difference was visible with a single glance. Where Mizukage's building was an enormous fortress that could be made into a bunker with a single explosion, Hokage tower was a smaller building that was placed below the giant monument with every Hokage's face engraved into the cliff behind it.

The insides were different as well. Instead of a long, dark hallway with statues of famous shinobis, it was rather simply made hallway with few pictures on the walls.

As Naruto walked up to the doors that lead into Minato's office, he opened it and entered. If it was his younger self, he would simply kick the doors open. However, Danzo's and Hyo's training made him keep that behavior – mostly – in check.

As he entered the office, he noticed that several persons were inside talking with Minato. Namely Kakashi, Akiho, Sasuke and the girl who had an obedient seal on her – if Naruto's memory was right, it was Haku. On a side thought, he wondered where Sakura was, but he came upon conclusion that the meeting was focused on Haku, and Akiho decided to tag along since her father wouldn't mind. Sasuke probably didn't leave her at all, as Minato told him earlier that the Uchiha was meeting her every day when she was in coma. Kakashi worked as a witness since he was the team leader – or maybe because he was bored.

The silence that fell on the room when Naruto entered was awkward. Naruto blinked and inwardly groaned. "Am I interrupting?" He asked which made Kakashi bit back a snicker.

Minato was the first to speak. "Learn to knock. Though, it's better than kicking the doors open." He took a short pause and continued. "Nothing confidential, but I'm quite surprised that you are back so soon. I didn't expect you returning in two more weeks." He answered with hidden surprise that Naruto was back in village so early. "You'll report after I'm done with them."

Before Akiho could object and ask for Naruto to stay, he left the room closing the doors behind him. The blue haired chunin sighed and leaned against the wall next to the doors and closed his eyes.

_'What do you think about that Haku girl?' _Grimmjow asked out of the blue.

Naruto growled. _'Be quiet, I'm listening to them.' _He said and carefully channeled a little amount of reiryoku to his ear, enough to hear the voices from the office.

_"…before Naruto interrupted… ah, that's right. Yuki-san, you told us that you are a well skilled medic, isn't it?" _That was clearly Minato's voice. Naruto deduced that Yuki was Haku's surname, since there were no other persons in the room. Except ANBU that is, but he doubted that ANBU would have a codename other than of an animal. Their identities are confidential after all.

_"Yes, I'm quite skilled in that category and I have experience in fighting. That bastard Zabuza trained me until I would lose consciousness."_ Haku explained. Naruto couldn't deny that she was strong for her age. He had to build up a lot of momentum to break through the ice mirrors back on the bridge. He could also hear the anger in Haku's voice when she mentioned Zabuza. Naruto was curious about the story behind Haku's seal, and he would definitely ask about it.

_"Don't worry, you're safe now." _Now that was surprisingly Uchiha's voice. Naruto thought that the stuck up brood-king wouldn't say anything like that in his entire lifetime. He was nicely mistaken.

He heard a chuckle from Akiho and Kakashi. _"Where should I put you then… in what direction do you want to train?" _Minato asked again.

_"I'm not entirely sure, whilst I'm a good medic I have too much combat potential that would be wasted if I stayed in the hospital." _A short pause indicated that she was probably thinking about it. _"What are your suggestions, Hokage-sama?" _

_"Let's see here." _He heard Minato speak, and then Naruto heard him open a drawer. _"Since Kakashi said that you concealed your identity as a fake hunter-nin, I might create a group of hunter-nins. Our ANBU were doing that so far, but since there is more and more rogue shinobi popping out of nowhere, I need a separate division. Also, we are in large need of field medics, but you could always choose to join a regular team instead and do normal missions that are assigned to our chunins, your call." _Minato explained.

_"I need to think about it." _Haku answered after a brief pause. _"But I think that I'll stick to the hunter-nin squad."_

_"Good, you'll be under three months of constant observation, and then you'll be officially a Konoha shinobi." _Naruto clearly heard Minato's satisfied chuckle. _"Alright, you can leave now. Akiho, Sasuke, you stay here." _

Naruto opened his left eye when he heard the door open. Haku walked out and closed the doors after her. She noticed that Naruto was standing next to the door and tensed.

Naruto knew what she wanted to say. "Save it. Go where you're supposed be and don't spell trouble." He said and closed his eyes once again, focusing on the conversation in the room.

Haku bit her lip and nodded to him. However, instead of going out, she stayed standing in the hallway.

_"…it goes fine. Ero-sennin is teaching me an improved Rasengan, but I doubt that I will be able to finish it until the end of exams." _The blue haired eavesdropper slightly narrowed his brow. If Akiho was talking about the Chunin Exams, then she wasn't told about the invasion.

_"That's good. What about you, Sasuke?" _Minato said. _"Did Tsunade figure out what's with your Sharingan?"_

_"She told me what Kakashi did, my Sharingan mutated, or as Tsunade-sama said it evolved. It's four times more powerful than a pair of fully matured Sharingans even if I have only one tomoe unlocked. It doesn't even consume chakra so I can have it on all the time." _Naruto heard Sasuke's words and got curious about his Sharingan. It sounded like it was a perfect weapon for a shinobi.

And no doubt something that his teacher would want to get his hands on.

_"That is quite interesting. Kakashi-kun, how does his training progress?"_

_"He's as gifted as Akiho is. I want to teach him a technique of mine, but I'll wait with it until the month break in the exam." _Kakashi explained.

_"Very well, you are dismissed for now." _Minato finished. Naruto heard the movement of chairs being moved around, and the doors to Minato's office opened. Kakashi and Sasuke left the room with Kakashi giving a single nod to Naruto.

Naruto then entered the room and closed the doors behind him. He looked at Akiho and raised a brow at her presence. "What are you still doing here?" Naruto asked.

Minato seemed interested in their conversation and listened in. "I was worried about you! I want to hear how your mission went too."

Naruto groaned and looked at the Hokage. "She's allowed to hear confidential information that is connected to _that_ matter?"

Minato crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. He couldn't tell such information to anyone below the chunin rank, and Akiho was a genin. It did not matter if she was Hokage's daughter or a jinchuuriki. "Akiho-chan, leave."

The girl turned to her father. "But-!"

"No buts! That's an order as your Hokage, not your father!" Minato interrupted her before she could object.

Akiho huffed and stormed out of the room, leaving Minato and Naruto alone. "Don't bother. She needs to learn her place as a shinobi, not my daughter when it comes to such affairs." Minato spoke as he saw Naruto's amused smirk. "Did you deliver the message?"

Naruto nodded with his arms crossed. He didn't bother sitting on the chair as he preferred standing. "Yep." He simply said.

"What was her answer?" Minato asked curiously.

Naruto reached to his tattoo and unsealed the scroll that Mizukage gave him. "Plain out decline, but I suppose she was bluffing." He said and threw the scroll to Minato who inspected the Mizukage seal on it.

Seeing that it was genuine and without any defects, he opened it. His eyes darted through every single word and the smirk he had on his face grew wider. "Correct. She thought that you're a simple shinobi of my forces and decided to keep you in dark." He said and chuckled.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"I have some plans for you, Naruto."

Naruto's frown grew even sharper. "And what are they?"

Minato chuckled once again. "You have an unlimited potential, and I want you to become one of Konoha's greates shinobi."

"And yet, you decided to keep Akiho blind about the invasion, why?" Naruto questioned.

Minato leaned back in his chair. "She's still a genin. I do have plans for her as well as for the Uchiha. Akiho is a jinchuuriki and my lovely daughter. I can't let her life be in a risk." He explained.

Naruto nodded. He knew that Minato loved his daughter with his very own life so he couldn't deny that. "So what does the scroll say then?"

Minato placed his palm on the desk and the seal array on the walls glowed faint blue, and the windows were shadowed. Naruto steeled himself as what Minato was about to tell him was definitely a secret.

"I'm trusting your with this information now, and I expect you to take this information with you to the grave if someone tries to interrogate you, it's an S-ranked secret." Minato began with serious voice. "Four years ago I made an agreement with Kumogakure's Raikage. Both I and he agreed that the cold war between Konoha and Kumo was pointless and would only weaken both sides ultimately, so we decided to create a hidden treaty."

Naruto's eyes widened. He heard about the conflicts between Konoha and Kumo, but never suspected that the two villages would come into an agreement.

Minato chuckled seeing the bafflement on Naruto's face. "You, I and three other persons are the only Shinobi in Konoha who knows about it. It's an unofficial peace, trade and military treaty, the same that Mizukage accepted. Since Suna is likely to break the peace with us, we can't trust them, and Iwagakure was always a thorn in Konoha's side." He explained.

Naruto closed his eyes for a second. _'So, he wants to make sure that in case of a war breaking out, Konoha will have minimal losses during an eventual conflict with the price of Kiri's and Kumo's forces, that cunning bastard.'_ Naruto thought for a second.

_'He's an evil genius beneath that mask of his. Just play along and don't get yourself caught.' _Grimmjow added. Naruto agreed without a second word and played along as Grimmjow said.

"Hmph, so I guess you have a good counter-plan for the invasion then?"

Minato nodded. "Yes, she did. Anyways, I plan on completely decimating Orochimaru's and Suna's forces." He added.

"Most Chunins and Jonins know about the invasion – aren't you afraid that Suna or Orochimaru find out about the counter-plan?" Naruto questioned.

"That's what I'm aiming for. If they find out, they'll be more likely to abandon the invasion. However, if they still attack, there is high possibility that Orochimaru will send Suna's forces to their deaths without his own troops."

Naruto nodded in clear understanding. "That's a good way of minimizing the damage done by the invasion."

"Correct, Suna is way too weak to pose a threat against us alone." Minato said. "Alright, back to the previous topic. The scroll you handed to the Mizukage was actually information for Kumogakure. The reason I did not send you straight to Kumo, but to Kiri,was because I didn't want you to wander half-way through the world."

Naruto had to admit that Minato did a splendid job persuading two nations – one which was theirs enemy – to join an alliance. "So the Mizukage was supposed to forward the message to Kumo?" Naruto asked. Seeing that Minato nodded, he continued. "Let me guess, Raikage and possibly Mizukage will come to the final of the chunin exam?"

Minato shook his head. "No, Kiri won't be involved in this conflict, because they can't afford splitting their forces now. However, Kumogakure will send one of their jinchuuriki."

Naruto's façade hardened visibly when Minato mentioned word jinchuuriki. "You agreed to that?" He seriously questioned Minato's sanity. Letting a foreign jinchuuriki into the village was seriously a dangerous move. Even if said village was on peaceful treats. "How do you know that this jinchuuriki won't go berserk in the middle of village? You know very well that people of Konoha are afraid of jinchuurikis – the only reason Akiho isn't targeted is you and Kushina." Naruto pointed out. Even though Akiho was under Minato's constant protection, some people viewed her as an evil being.

Minato eyed him carefully and sighed. Even if he didn't look like it, Naruto was really perceptive and intelligent. His combat abilities were almost, if not already on Itachi's level when he was Naruto's age. "The jinchuuriki – Nii Yugito was elected as Kumogakure's envoy here in Konoha." The Hokage explained. "Also, if she goes berserk, the Bijuu Subduing Division which you probably heard of will take care of her."

Naruto raised a single eyebrow. Sure, he heard about that special division created by Minato few years ago. It was a precaution if a Tailed beast or a host attacked Konoha. Kyuubi's rampage over thirteen years ago was an event no one wants to experience. "You're hiding something, right? No one would be foolish enough to send a jinchuuriki as an envoy." Naruto pointed out.

Minato rolled his eyes at Naruto's curiosity. "It doesn't matter. What matters is that I have chosen Team eleven to be her bodyguards." He said calmly and observed Naruto's reaction.

"Why would she need bodyguards if she's a jinchuuriki?" Naruto questioned. He heard Grimmjow grumble something in his mind, but he shrugged it off.

"From what Raikage told me, she's his niece and she is not as skilled in shinobi arts as Kumo's second jinchuuriki. She showed more interest in politics though." Minato explained. "However, don't think that she is weak or something. Remember, jinchuuriki are dangerous no matter what."

Naruto nodded grimly. The remnants after Kyuubi's rampage are still seen in Konoha even after one and half a decade. "I see, you want me to keep that a secret as well, right?" Seeing Minato nod, he continued. "Do Mizuko and Tenrai know about that mission?"

Minato's eyebrows twitched for a split second and chuckled shortly. "No, you'll tell them about the mission, but you won't say a word about her position as a jinchuuriki. Also, it's ranked as a B-rank mission with constant weekly payment. Anything else you need?"

"What about my payment from last mission? I hope I didn't haul my ass all over to Kiri and back for nothing?"

Minato rolled his eyes and tossed him a scroll he had on his desk. "There you go." He said with a smile.

Naruto caught it and grinned, thinking about ways of spending his money. "Before I go, why the hell do you trust me so much?" He asked

"Say whatever the hell you want, Naruto. Even if you excommunicated yourself from our family and there is barely a hint of my blood within you, I still see you as my son." Minato said with a smile on his face.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "You're still going on about that?" He asked, and seeing Minato's nod he sighed. "Whatever. Just greet Kushina when you see her."

Minato smiled and nodded. "You'll meet the envoy in five days. I'll send someone to fetch you." Minato said before Naruto left the room. He sighed as the doors closed behind the boy. "Chunnin Namikaze dismissed." He said softly to himself and sighed.

* * *

Naruto had his arms folded behind his neck as he walked through the streets of Konoha, thinking about Kumo's envoy. _'Wonder who that Yugito is actually. I've never heard of her before.'_

_'We'll see her in five days or so.' _Grimmjow yawned. _'So what do you want to do now?'_

Naruto put a finger under his chin and made a thinking pose. _'Not sure, but I'd like a drink.'_

_'Aren't you too young to drink?' _Grimmjow asked with amused voice as Naruto's eyes fell onto a nearest bar.

Naruto chuckled to himself earning few weird looks from people that walked by. _'Not really, but if I'm old enough to kill, then I guess I'm old enough to drink. Also, if you didn't paid attention, I already drank before.' _He answered.

_'How come you don't see Minato as your father, but still somehow see Kushina as your mother?' _He asked out of the blue. _'In all honesty, you see me more as a buddy brother than a father, which I am fine with. You should stay with your family.' _

Naruto stopped in his tracks. _'Where the fuck did that come from? I don't need a fatherly or motherly attention, Grimmjow. I'm fine with how it is.' _He answered with a frown.

_'Ha! Sure you do, I bet all that excommunicating yourself from their family was just to get their attention on you because you miss parental love. You're only bitching for your family's attention.' _A second voice joined the conversation.

Naruto groaned loudly. _'Damn it Pantera, cut it out already, I'm not bitching for their attention!' _He objected, which made both Pantera and Grimmjow laugh.

_'So you don't deny that you miss parental love? Damn, I didn't expect that from you after all, kitten.' _Grimmjow managed to speak in between his laughs.

Naruto clutched his head. _'Shut the fuck up already, I'm getting enough of you both sitting in my head. I think I'll go insane!' _Naruto complained. _'Sometimes I wish you were simply gone. Being with no real family has its benefits, like I can drink alcohol without them breathing down on my neck.' _He said and was about to step inside the bar when he heard a familiar shout behind him.

The two spirits stopped laughing _'Oh fuck.' _Grimmjow groaned.

"Naruto-kun!" Someone shouted from the distance. Naruto groaned along with Grimmjow and turned around, and groaned once again when he saw Akiho running towards him.

"Great, just when I was about to get a drink." Naruto muttered under his breath. His eyebrows perked up a bit in relief when he saw a very familiar white haired girl along with brown haired boy running at a moderate pace behind Akiho.

Tenrai and Mizuko seemed really tired, the latter one looked a little pissed off too. Naruto had a general idea over why she was though.

He heard Tenrai's laugh when Akiho skidded over to Naruto and smashed into him with a hug, almost knocking Naruto down.

"What was that for?" The blue haired teen groaned as he tried shoving Akiho away from him.

Akiho let go of him and pouted. "I was worried about you! You fainted on the bridge and slept for a week, and when I heard that you're awake you already were away from Konoha!" She almost yelled at him.

Mizuko walked up to Naruto as Akiho was ranting and punched his chest lightly. "We all were worried about you! Also, why the hell did you pull a leg and left me with this dumbass?!" She yelled pointing at Tenrai.

Tenrai gave his female teammate an annoyed look and then turned to Naruto. "Well, everyone except Sasuke. That dick didn't even visit you."

Akiho pointed a finger at Tenrai and yelled again "Don't call him names!"

"Don't yell at us!" Mizuko quickly shouted to Akiho.

The auburn haired girl grew red with anger and snapped back. "Don't tell me what to do, pale scar face!" She yelled getting a wide-eyed look from Mizuko and a scared one from Tenrai.

Mizuko was about to explode when Naruto skillfully defused the situation with his wonderful diplomatic abilities.

"Shut the fuck up already, all three of you!" He snapped, bringing all three to silence. Then he noticed with a corner of his eye that people nearby were looking at them. Naruto even noticed few Jonins and Chunins who hid in the shadows. "Don't you have anything else to do?!" He shouted at the people who started whispering between each other. Some even gave quick sharp looks at Akiho, but returned to their own business.

_'Smooth' _Grimmjow snorted at Naruto's speech.

"Just get inside and don't shout – I'm tired." Naruto said bluntly and entered the bar without waiting.

Akiho, Tenrai and Mizuko blinked and followed without a word. When they entered the bar, Naruto was already talking with the bartender who had a scared look on his face. Naruto put some money on the counter, took two bottles the bartender gave him with shaky hands and walked up to the trio of people he shouted at earlier. He gave them a single bored look and pointed with a thumb to a seat in the corner of the room.

Needless to say, they followed him quietly. As they sat down, Naruto popped one bottle open and drank a mouthful of the fluid, shuddering as the strong alcohol burned his throat. Akiho, who sat next to him, winced visibly when the smell of alcohol hit her nostrils.

"You're drinking alcohol?!" She yelled loudly with disbelief.

"I said don't shout." Naruto said avoiding the question. He put the bottle down on the desk and looked at his teammates.

Both were visibly tired, dirty and sweaty if his nose didn't betray him. Not surprising considering the fact that it was stupidly hot out in the sun right now. "You're done with your 'mission'?" Naruto asked making apostrophes in the air with his fingers, which resulted in a tick-mark on Mizuko's forehead.

Before she exploded on Naruto, she took a calming breath and answered. "We would've been done much earlier if you helped us out and if Tenrai actually didn't fuck up the seals." Mizuko pointed out looking at Tenrai with annoyed look on her face.

Tenrai looked away from her and whistled, trying to look innocent. Mizuko nudged his ribs with her elbow as he goofed off. "I said I'm sorry, alright?" He groaned and rubbed his side.

Naruto laughed shortly at his teammate's unfortunate. "Well, I don't know what about you, but I have five days of vacation. I guess it's the same for you guys as well since we're team." Naruto said and drank more of the alcohol.

Mizuko and Tenrai sighed loudly with relief. "Thank god."

"But we have another appointment afterwards" Naruto began, getting attention of the trio. "In five days an envoy from Kumogakure will arrive and we're chosen as hers bodyguards."

Mizuko's eyes widened when Naruto mentioned the foreign village's name. "Kumo's envoy? Why did Hokage-sama chose us?" She questioned.

Naruto shrugged. "No idea. It's a long-term B-ranked mission with constant payment. I don't know for how long we'll be guarding her." He said and took another gulp of the alcohol.

Tenrai grinned. "As long we're getting paid well for it, I'm in."

"I agree with Tenrai on this one. I'm tired and I'll gladly take a guarding mission, even if it's boring." She said and reached for the bottle of sake Naruto had on the desk, but the blue haired boy snatched it away from her which made her pout. "Oh come on." She groaned and leaned back in her seat. "By the way, do you know who that envoy is? You mentioned it's a woman."

"Some kunoichi named Yugito Nii. Never heard of her and she isn't in the bingo book." Naruto said. He threw a quick look at Akiho who seemed a bit depressed.

Akiho moaned loudly as she laid her head on the desk, mumbling something.

"What's wrong?" Mizuko questioned the girl's weird behavior.

Akiho looked upwards and answered. "You're getting all those cool missions. We can't eevn get one, because our team is scattered. Sakura is training with granny, Sasuke is busy training his Sharingan with Kakashi-sensei, and I am training for the Chunin exams." She groaned and hid her face behind her hair.

Tenrai snorted at her complains. "Two weeks ago you and your team were jumped by an A-ranked nuke-nin and you already crave for better missions? If not for us, you would've been already dead." Tenrai pointed out getting a nod of agreement from Mizuko. "Enjoy your moments without missions, because when you get promoted to a chunin, you'll crave for ten hours of sleep. Wait, what granny?"

Naruto choked on the sake, sputtering some fluid when he realized who Akiho was talking about.

"Granny Tsunade of course! Kaa-san and Kakashi-sensei convinced her to take Sakura as an apprentice." Akiho explained getting an incredulous look from Mizuko.

"The Slug Princess! Sheesh, benefits of having Hokage's apprentice as a sensei and yourself being Hokage's daughter." The white haired girl groaned with disbelief.

"Now don't complain you." Tenrai said to her as he watched Naruto empty his second bottle of sake. "Our sensei is the leader of Root division, and we get training from his best operatives."

Mizuko sighed. "Still, I doubt we'll get more influence unless Danzo-sensei decides to. Speaking of which," She said addressing to Naruto. "Have you begun elemental training?" Mizuko asked, but didn't get an answer as Naruto was swaying lightly.

Instead of getting an answer, Naruto fell from his seat with a thud. Akiho looked under the table to see that Naruto was unconscious.

Mizuko hid her face in her hands and groaned. "Not again." Her muffled voice came from behind her hands.

"What happened to him?" Akiho asked as she tried to pick up Naruto from the ground. "Is he alright?"

Tenrai opened his mouth to answer, but was beaten to it by someone else.

"This is what happens when you drink too much sake this strong in span of few minutes." An amused voice spoke from behind them.

Akiho's eyes sparked when she saw the person who stood few meters away from their table. "Ero-sennin? What are you doing here?" She asked.

Mizuko and Tenrai turned around to see who she spoke about. After they took in the person's famous white hair and red line below his eyes, their eyes widened slightly. Because there, standing was one of Konoha's strongest shinobi and the famous – or infamous among most women – author of a certain perverted book.

Not a second later, Tenrai sputtered with laughter when he understood why Akiho called him a perverted sage.

Jiraiya grimaced when the brown haired chunin fell from his seat on the ground, laughing for all its worth. "Damn it Akiho, don't call me nicknames out in public!" He pouted, making Akiho giggle.

"Yeah, like I will do that." The auburn haired girl answered with a wide grin. "So, what are you doing here?"

Jiraiya huffed and pointed to Naruto. "A little bird told me that he was making some ruckus, threatening the civilians." He began. "So, I wanted to see how my new drinking buddy fares, but I guess they overreacted."

"Wait, Naruto is your drinking buddy? How did that happen?" Mizuko asked.

"Phew! Who do you think introduced sake to him? Tsunade?" Jiraiya joked. "Even I'm afraid of drinking this strong sake so fast, it's one of the strongest you can find around."

Akiho tried to hide her amused face, but unfortunately failed. "I wouldn't be surprised if it was granny who introduced him to drinking." She said with a short giggle.

Tenrai stood up from his seat and turned to Mizuko who shook her head. "Don't tell me that I have to carry him alone!" He complained.

"You fucked up on the mission. That's your punishment!" Mizuko yelled, but she got an idea. "However… let's leave him here."

Tenrai looked at Naruto and thought about it for a second. "On another thought, I'm too tired to carry him around." He said and decided to leave the bar.

"Wait! You're leaving him here alone?" Akiho asked while Jiraiya was amused observing the scene.

Mizuko stood up. "Of course, what are friends for?" She said and followed Tenrai, leaving Jiraiya, Akiho and Naruto.

The Toad Sage looked at Naruto and sighed. "He's going to have a killer hangover when he wakes up." He said, picked up Naruto and threw him over his shoulder. "Are you coming?" He asked Akiho who sat there dumbfounded.

"Uh, I guess… where are we going?" Akiho asked as she followed him.

"I'm going to drop him at your house, where else? I don't know where he lives." He pointed out with an annoyed look on his face.

"You're a spymaster and yet, you don't know where he lives… sheesh. By the way, shouldn't you be outside Konoha, I don't know, spying and writing your smut?" Akiho questioned with an incredulous look on her face.

Jiraiya sputtered when she mentioned his writings. "It's not smut! It's art!" He objected.

"Whatever, so why aren't you spying? You are in Konoha for three weeks already, that's longer than usual." Akiho asked.

"Ugh, there are some important things I have to do, so I'll be in Konoha for two more months. I'll probably depart after the Chunin exams." He answered with a grim face which Akiho didn't see. "Speaking of which, how about I help you improve your Rasengan after we drop Naruto off?"

Akiho's eyes sparked when she heard Jiraiya's offer. "Yes! Tou-san is too busy with his work to help me with it and I actually need help, I struggle to make it bigger." She answered.

Jiraiya smiled and kept walking towards Namikaze's mansion, all while carrying Naruto like a sack of potatoes.

Fifteen minutes later, Jiraiya and Akiho arrived at the mansion. When they walked through the gate, they saw Kushina lying on the grass in front of the door in the sun, and reading a book.

She heard the footsteps and looked up to see Akiho and Jiraiya who was carrying a person on his shoulder. "Hi kaa-san!" Akiho shouted and ran up to her mother.

Kushina smiled brightly at the sight of her daughter. "Hey Akiho-chan, why are you so early here? Shouldn't you be training?" The red-haired woman asked.

"I'm about to help her improve her rasengan, but we had to drop off a drunk here." Jiraiya spoke and dropped Naruto on the ground, making Akiho sweat drop.

Kushina looked at Naruto and quickly recognized the blue hair. "Naruto-kun! What happened to him?" She said as she kneeled down next to Naruto.

"That's what happens when you drink too much sake that even I am afraid of." Jiraiya answered.

Kushina's eyes narrowed. "Jiraiya, did you just say that Naruto passed out drinking?" She said with malicious voice.

Jiraiya was about to answer, but Akiho beat him to it. "Ero-sennin introduced him to the sake some time ago." She said told Kushina who growled

Jiraiya's eyes widened and he cursed. "God damn it!" He shouted and grabbed Akiho's shoulder and quickly did a shunshin afterwards to avoid Kushina's rage.

"Damn it you pervert! When I get my hands on you…!" She yelled, but noticed that only Naruto and she were present. "What do I do with you?" She groaned, and an evil light sparked in her eyes making her grin. She picked up Naruto and dragged him into the mansion.

* * *

**And this is the end of this chapter. Tell me what you think, so please review!**

**Also, I plan on rewriting the my other story "Heir of The Dark Mage". I don't know if I will actually rewrite it or not, but we'll see.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi folks, sorry for the late update, but I had no motivation in last few weeks. But here it is, the chapter which introduces the pairing for this story :3 Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bleach**

* * *

Naruto's eyelids opened slowly only to be closed right away as the light hit them. A second later, a strong wave of pain washed over him. He groaned loudly as his head felt like it was going to explode.

_'I'll never drink again._' He told himself as he tried to sit up. After two minutes of struggle, he managed to sit up and noticed that he was in a bed. Not his bed, and definitely not in the apartment he shared with Mizuko and Tenrai.

He looked around and quickly noticed the familiar shape and dark blue walls of the room. _'Oh, hell no.'_ He thought and Naruto could swear that he heard Grimmjow's laugh in the corner of his mind._ 'Grimmjow! Who brought me here and why?'_

_'That pervert brought you here… what was his name again… never mind. Dude, you passed out immediately after you drank that second bottle.' _Grimmjow explained.

_'Jiraiya, I'm going to murder his ass when I get my hands on him.' _Naruto cursed and tried getting out of the bed, but unfortunately the dizziness from alcohol that was still in his body got the better of him.

Immediately, Naruto lost his balance and fell flatly on the floor. "Smooth." He groaned and found out that the floor actually was quite comfy. Just then, he noticed that he was clothed in a light blue pajama. "Great, where the hell are my clothes?" He thought out loud and looked around.

Thankfully, his dark shinobi clothes he used every day were neatly folded on a chair next to his bed. Before he managed to stand up though, he heard a voice behind him. "Kushina cleaned them up as you slept."

Naruto didn't need to turn around as his Pesquisa picked up the familiar signature, but he turned around anyways.

His eyes fell on the older blonde who stood in the door frame. Naruto's eyes frowned when he saw the smirk on Minato's face. "Yeah, yeah, thank you for your generosity and all that bullshit. Now get out, I want to get dressed." He muttered and managed to push himself off the ground.

Minato didn't move for a brief moment as he watched Naruto stand up. "Your mother also spent entire morning making breakfast for you, and both I and she hope that you come down and eat it." He added, to which Naruto stopped in his movements.

The teen slowly turned around and glared at Minato. His face features showed that he was annoyed and pissed, because he was in the place he never wanted to be again and because of that offer. "Forget about it." Naruto hissed through his teeth, but didn't let the anger get better of him. "Me being dragged here was enough."

_'He hides his dislike towards us much better than he did few years ago. Danzo's training did prove his worth after all. I wonder if his instincts are just as good.' _Minato thought and discretely pulled out a shuriken from his pouch.

With a single swift movement of his hand, the shuriken flew at high speeds towards Naruto's right shoulder.

Naruto's Pesquisa picked up the quickly moving projectile instantly, and in a split second his hand blurred and caught the silver blade in between his fingers, stopping the four pronged blade successively without damaging the skin as his Hierro absorbed the entire damage. Naruto's face slowly turned to Minato with a grim look on his face.

"What the fuck was that about?" Naruto asked with a low growl. Minato merely narrowed his eyes and answered.

"I checked your abilities, and thankfully I wasn't disappointed." He said and turned around to leave. "Change your clothes and get the hell out of my mansion, even though you are on break from missions I don't want to see you slacking." Minato finished and left the room.

_'Wouldn't have it any other way, motherfucker.' _Naruto cursed inwardly and got dressed up in seconds.

Grimmjow sighed to himself. _'This is getting annoying. If just there was a way for me to get out of here, I would totally murder the fuck out of him.'_ He spoke to Naruto and received a short laugh in response.

_'Trust me. I really would love to see that.' _Naruto answered with a smirk, which was replaced by a grim face. _'But, unfortunately he isn't called the strongest shinobi alive without a reason.'_

Grimmjow merely huffed. _'Don't forget that I am titled 6__th__ Espada and the Panther King for a reason, brat. I would wipe the floor with him, and you'll do the same once you achieve Resurrection. The gap between Shinobi and Arrancars is far too great.' _The elder Arrancar proudly announced.

Naruto grinned at the prospect of throwing Minato around like a ragdoll. _'Even though something like that would brand me as a traitor, I would fucking love to do that.'_

A chuckle resonated in his head as Grimmjow thought about it. _'It'd be worth it. Now get the hell out of here before Kushina gets her hands on you.'_

Naruto didn't say another word as he opened the window and jumped through it, disappearing in mid-air with his Sonido.

If he waited a few seconds longer, he would hear the doors to his room open again as Kushina ran in to the room. She looked towards the window when she heard the booming sound of Sonido and got a tick mark when she realized that Naruto escaped.

"Naruto! Get back here right now!" She yelled through the window. "God damn it Minato!"

* * *

Four days after Naruto escaped Kushina's grasp passed by quite quickly. He trained most of the short break, hanged out a bit with Mizuko and Tenrai – after ranting over how they could leave him alone with Jiraiya, that is – and avoided the Namikaze family as much he could.

Right now in Konoha, the atmosphere was rather quiet as it was very early in the morning. Naruto expected that there would be much more movement around Konoha in the morning, as the Chunin exams were about to begin, but instead focusing on it, he enjoyed the rare calmness. Sun was barely peeking through the horizon. Most of the birds were quiet, but some already began chirping. The gentle cold wind was blowing against Naruto's face as he slowly made his way towards the Hokage's office.

He was dressed in a different clothing right now – one he used for business in Konoha that didn't involve fighting. A tight gray T-shirt with a black panther printed on the front that showed his muscled abdomen – a piece Mizuko got him few days ago, which he was thankful for -, pair of black jeans with tattered material above his ankles, a navy blue jacket that was always opened and the always present dark grey mask on his face, with dried blood on it.

Truth be told, he didn't know what to expect from Kumogakure's jinchuuriki. He was even somewhat excited about her visit, as he hasn't met any Shinobi from other villages who weren't rogue yet.

From what he knew, the envoy should have already arrived, or would arrive in Konoha in few hours. Mizuko and Tenrai would as always arrive exactly on time, but Naruto was used to coming a bit earlier.

It was about fifteen minutes later he arrived at the doorstep to the Hokage's Tower, which was already open as he saw two older Chunins guarding the door. He nodded his head towards them as he walked by, which they returned. They didn't even bother trying to stop Naruto and question his purpose here, as the blue haired Chunin was well known among the mid-shinobi class in Konoha.

He made quite a reputation with his exclusion from Namikaze clan, being Danzo's apprentice, being second fastest shinobi in Konoha and having his part in slaughtering over two hundred men back in Wave without remorse. If someone looked through the reports of every Chunin enlisted in two years, Naruto was the one with most kills on his account.

That fact spread around the shinobi-class like a wildfire, enlisting Naruto as the most cold-blooded killer among the Chunins in Konoha. He was surely respected in Konoha by his fellow comrades. Some even were afraid of him after a certain team mate of his released a correct rumor stating that he didn't even flinch when he killed for first time.

Thankfully Akiho didn't know about all those rumors and facts yet, or she would totally freak out and bug Naruto for weeks.

Naruto sighed as he made his way up the stairs to Minato's office. Grimmjow already made sure that the fame wouldn't get the better of Naruto, as that was a bane of anyone.

His eyes narrowed when his Pesquisa picked up the signatures in Minato's office, two powerful chakras and one barely visible that resonated from there. One being obviously Minato's an impressive one, and second being more malicious. Naruto deducted that it was the envoy. Obviously the malicious feeling came from the tailed beast – it was very similar to what he felt when he was near Akiho. What was the third chakra – he had no idea. It was way too weak for a human.

When he arrived at the doorstep, he decided to wait for his teammates to come instead of walking in. He leaned against the wall facing the doors to Hokage's office and waited for his teammates.

He didn't wait long, as five minutes later Mizuko and Tenrai arrived. Both were clothed in their regular dark ANBU clothes. Naruto resisted urge to laugh when he saw how tired Tenrai looked compared to Mizuko who was fresh looking. He shook his head with a smirk and bumped his fist with Mizuko's and Tenrai's.

"Took you long enough to come." Naruto said with a smirk, much to Tenrai's ire.

The brown haired boy glared at him. "Shut up. I can't get it how you two manage to looks so fresh in the mornings. I hate mornings." He groaned.

Mizuko sighed. "We're late, because you didn't wake us up when you went out, and I had to wake this idiot up – again." She whined and faced the door. "So, are we going in?" The white haired girl asked.

Naruto nodded, which was enough for the team. "Then do the honors." The blue haired teen said to his teammate.

Mizuko smiled and walked up to the door and knocked on it twice. "Team Eleven reporting for duty!" She exclaimed.

Three seconds later, the Hokage's voice sounded from inside. "Come in."

Mizuko opened the door and entered, shortly followed by Naruto and Tenrai. Their eyes fell on the person sitting on a chair in front of Minato's desk. She was facing them with curious and calculating look.

It was a woman that looked around fifteen years old. She had long, straight blonde, hair bound with taut bandages that reached her waist line. Her face was sharp, with slight feline resemblance and was adored by yellow eyes. She wore a short-sleeved black and purple blouse and black pants, both of which had a design similar to clouds on them, purple fingerless gloves and a chain of blue beads wound around her left hand. She also proudly wore a Kumo hitai-ate on her forehead, sandals and a kunai holster which was strapped to her right thigh. She also wore bandages around her arms and legs as well as a red belt around her waist. A large green bag was slung across her right shoulder.

A second later, they noticed a small brown cat that sat in her lap. It had a leash with Kumogakure's insignia on it and had a black kanji for "sincerity" written on its forehead. Naruto raised an eyebrow. _'So that was that third chakra.'_

"Yugito-san, this is Team Eleven, your bodyguards for this week." Minato exclaimed calmly.

The blonde girl looked at the team that was supposed to guard her. "Hokage-dono, I can handle myself just fine. I don't need bodyguards." She said, making Naruto roll his eyes.

Minato shook his head. "I insist. Some of people of Konoha, especially the Hyuuga clan hold a grudge against Kumo since last war and the recent attempt to kidnap a Hyuuga." He said, making Yugito tense visibly. "I want to avoid any unnecessary attempts on your life, as it would lead to a war."

Mizuko and Tenrai shifted uncomfortably, while Naruto remained stoic. Yugito sighed, knowing that there was no way she could deny that. "Alright, it's okay."

"Good." The Hokage smiled. "Now, they are the most promising shinobi we had since five years. I would like you four to introduce each other, you are free to go." He finished.

Yugito nodded and stood up, making the cat on her lap jump down onto the ground. The Team Eleven headed to the door, but before they could leave Minato spoke again. "Yugito-san, Naruto – stay for a moment."

Naruto looked at Mizuko and Tenrai who nodded and left without another word. As soon as the doors closed, the walls glowed with a faint light, indicating that it was sealed off.

"Now Yugito-san, just so you can be comfortable with it, out of Team Eleven only Naruto knows of your… burden." He said, making Yugito tense visibly, a slight bead of sweat trailed from her forehead.

The cat next to her hissed loudly as it sensed Yugito's nervousness. "You promised that no one would know…" She growled to the Hokage.

Naruto sighed, seeing that she was very uncomfortable about that, so he decided to speak for first time since he walked in. "Listen here, Yugito-san. I don't care that you held a bijuu. Heck, I respect you for that. Opposite of my teammates, my mission is not to protect you because you're an envoy, but because you're a jinchuuriki." He assured her with his arms crossed across his chest.

The Nibi jinchuuriki calmed down a bit, but still seemed a little uncomfortable about that. "Well… I'm happy to hear that." She said with a smile, nudging the hissing cat with her leg.

"I assure you that Naruto will not let anyone harm you." The Hokage told her. "You are free to go, have a nice stay in Konoha." Minato said and unsealed the room.

Naruto gave the Hokage a single bored look, and left the room, quickly being followed by Yugito.

* * *

Naruto and Yugito left the Hokage tower and met up with the rest of team outside. Mizuko gave a curious look towards Naruto and walked up to him.

"What did you speak about?" She asked.

"Uh, I'm supposed to guide her around Konoha today, so you guys are free, unless you want to tag along." Naruto lied. He wanted his team to tag along though. Yugito gave him a short, questioning look.

Mizuko nodded with a smile. "I guess…" She muttered and yawned, followed by a yawn from Tenrai. An idea popped up in Mizuko's head as she recalled how Naruto ditched them few days ago. "We'll meet tomorrow, see you!" She said with a grin, quickly grabbed Tenrai's shoulder and disappeared with a shunshin.

Naruto blinked once, twice and then cursed. "God damn it." He muttered, hiding his face in his hands. "I guess I deserved it."

"What do you mean?" Yugito asked, to which Naruto merely waved his hand.

"Just some squad hassles." He said and then rubbed his forehead. "So, what are you supposed to do now?"

The blonde haired girl placed a finger under her chin. "I don't really know. My luggage is already at my place where I'm supposed to stay and I have finished my job today morning with the Hokage." She answered and then her stomach growled, making her blush slightly with embarrassment. "Sorry, I didn't eat since yesterday."

Naruto chuckled. "A breakfast it is" He said to which the girl nodded with a smile. "Follow me then." Naruto added as he started walking down the road.

Yugito smiled at the warm welcome she had so far. _'So far so good, at least no one is glaring at me.'_

"Are you going to stand there all day or are you coming?" She heard Naruto speak behind his shoulder. Yugito gave him a single nod and followed him with the brown cat glancing nervously around.

Naruto also noticed that even though very discretely, Yugito glanced behind her shoulder every now and then, but let it slide for now.

"So, what's with the cat?" Naruto asked as soon she caught up, pointing to the brown cat that glared at Naruto. "It doesn't seem friendly." He added when the feline hissed at him.

The blonde jinchuuriki leaned down and picked up the cat. "She's Nuzume, a ninja cat and my personal courier." She explained, patting the brown haired cat on the head.

Naruto raised an eyebrow and nodded, not minding the fact that the cat tried to pierce him with its eyes.

Ninja cats weren't a rare specimen. Although, they weren't associated to a clan or a village – at least not anymore - some of them choose to be couriers or excellent spies to some shinobi.

"Go back to the apartment, I'll be back later." Yugito addressed the cat and dropped it on the ground, but instead of going away, Nuzume stood her ground and meowed loudly. "Don't test me Nuzume." Yugito lowered her voice.

The cat laid its ears and ran away from them without any other protests. Naruto was taken aback when the cat ran up a wall and jumped swiftly over the rooftops, earning few curious look from people who were awake by this time. "Aren't you afraid that it might get caught?" Naruto questioned.

"Nah, she's sneaky. No one in Kumo managed to catch her yet."

Naruto decided to give up the questions as they arrived at the restaurant where Naruto and his teammates often ate. He walked up the door and opened it, letting Yugito enter first. Even if he was a merciless jackass as some of his comrades addressed him, he knew how to behave around a woman – to an extent, that is.

After they got seated, Yugito ordered a Tekkadon**(1)** and Naruto decided to go with ginseng tea for once. They sat in silence, waiting for their respective orders. Naruto closed his eyes and leaned against the window.

"So, how's the life in Konoha?" Yugito broke the silence after few minutes.

"The way you already saw." Naruto answered without opening his eyes. "Atmosphere is calm, easy and safe – if you're a civilian that is. Replace the easy with hard and you get a shinobi's life."

Yugito sighed and brought her legs up to her chest. "Sounds like a fun place to live, quite opposite of Kumo." She groaned and played with her pearls.

Naruto cracked a single eye open. "You didn't like it in Kumo?"

Yugito looked at him and then glanced around to see if anyone listened. Luckily, except the barely awake waitress, they were alone. "You know of my curse." She whispered, to which Naruto nodded. "I feel like I don't even exist. I'm being ignored by everyone and some even try to harm me, just because of this wretched hellcat." She whispered and sobbed slightly.

Naruto looked at her and noticed the few tears that ran down her cheeks. "Hey, get a hold of yourself." He said to which Yugito looked at him. "It's not a good place to speak about it, so get a hold over you. We can talk about it later in more discrete place."

Yugito nodded slowly. "Sorry if that bothers you."

Naruto shook his' head. "Don't worry about that. I just don't want to bother with the shit storm that would happen if people heard about that." He explained, inwardly thanking Mizuko for helping him how to talk to a girl. "Also, I doubt that you would like anyone see you cry, right?"

Yugito smiled and took a deep breath. "Right." She answered. Not a minute later, their orders came. Naruto removed his mask to drink the tea and Yugito chewed on the raw tuna. "What's your relation to Hokage?" Yugito asked out of the blue.

Naruto stopped sipping the warm drink and raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

Yugito shrugged. "He trusted you with that information and I saw how he looked at you in the office, so I guessed that you are related in some ways." She explained.

"I don't feel like telling you" He answered with a smirk, to which the girl huffed and stuffed her mouth with rice. "I might tell you later on, though." He chuckled.

Yugito rolled her eyes and didn't say anything more. Instead, she finished her food which she was thankful for. She glanced at Naruto who was staring out through the window with a faraway look. It almost seemed like he wasn't here.

Unknown to her, Naruto had another argument with Grimmjow about his training. Naruto argued that he wanted to learn his lightning or earth affinity, while Grimmjow held his ground that Naruto should focus solely on hand-to-hand combat.

A question formed in Naruto's head, and he decided to ask it. _'How do you actually achieve Resurrection? Everything I did so far was meditating as you told me to, even though you never fucking did it.'_

Grimmjow stayed quiet for a while. He hadn't really thought about how exactly he achieved Resurrection. It was so long time ago he achieved it, that he possibly had forgotten. Something suddenly clicked in his mind. _'I'm a fucking idiot.' _The older Arrancar groaned.

_'You don't say.'_

_'Shut up.' _Grimmjow cursed. _'I just released my true form, that's it. After I became a Vasto Lorde, I split into two things, my body and the sword.' _

_'What do you mean?' _Naruto asked. He was really curious and somewhat annoyed.

_'What he meant was that we're one, but divided. I wondered when that idiot would realize.' _Another voice butted in. Naruto recognized the voice as Pantera's, while Grimmjow deadpanned.

_'So, how will I exactly achieve it? I mean, Pantera is inside me, so pretty much I am in the same situation as Grimmjow, right?' _Naruto asked.

Grimmjow stayed quiet for a while. The upcoming answer would be difficult. _'Yes and no. You can release Pantera, but not yet. If you did, though…' _Grimmjow paused there.

_'Grimmjow would perish.' _Pantera answered grimly.

Naruto's eyes widened to ridiculous proportions, gaining a weird look from Yugito. _'W-What?' The you_nger boy asked. _'You can't be serious… are you?'_

Grimmjow stayed silent, which confirmed Naruto's worries. Naruto felt as if something died inside him after Pantera stated that.

Suddenly, Grimmjow barked with laughter, along with Pantera. _'Bah, we're just fucking with you brat. You won't get rid of me that easily.'_

Naruto hit his head against window. "Fuckers…" He groaned. _'I hate you so much.'_

"What is wrong with you?"Yugito questioned the weird behavior.

_'Oh, right – she's still here.' _He thought and ignored the chuckles in his mind as he looked at the girl. "Nothing." He said and stood up. "So, you want to talk about it, or just leave it to yourself?"

Yugito grimaced and bit her lower lip. She didn't want to tell anyone about her problems, but so far Naruto seemed like an alright person. He wasn't afraid of her or hated her because of the bijuu inside her, and no one before was willing to hear her problems out.

She sighed and stood up, picking her bag along. "Where do we go?" She asked looking to side.

Naruto thought about it for a second. "We can go to my favorite place, it's always quiet and no one wanders around." He said and motioned her to follow, which she did.

As they walked in silence with Naruto leading the way, Yugito couldn't help but admire how different Konoha looked compared to Kumo. Kumogakure had much fewer civilians as it was mainly a militaristic village that mostly consisted of shinobi while Konoha had many more inhabitants – both civilians and shinobi.

The sun was already up in the sky, and from what Yugito deduced it was around eight or nine o'clock. Suddenly, she heard a loud yell from behind her.

"OVERFLOWING YOOOOOOOUTH!"¨

She was about to turn around, but was stopped by Naruto's hand as he gripped her shoulder. Yugito gave him a look questioning his actions.

"If you value your sanity, whatever you do, don't turn around." He said grimly and gulped, making Yugito shiver inwardly.

_'What is going on back there?' _She thought as the yells got louder and louder.

"Let's go my youthful students! One hundred laps around Konoha!" A loud, mature and way too enthusiastic voice yelled.

"GAI-SENSEI! If we don't do one hundred laps, I'll do eight hundred push-ups!" A younger, yet even more enthusiastic voice yelled.

"No, sixteen hundred push-ups, LEE!" Naruto cursed as the voices closed in. There was no way escaping this.

Meanwhile, Yugito couldn't resist the urge and turned around. She immediately paled as the blood was drained from her face when she saw the… abominations running towards her and Naruto.

First one was an adult. A tall and well-build man with high cheek-bones, ridiculously thick eyebrows and a black hair cut in a bowl style. He wore a tight, green jumpsuit with orange leg warmers which looked even more ridiculous than his eyebrows. He also had a standard Konoha flak jacket that was unzipped. His waist adored a hitai-ate with red cloth.

The second… abomination looked exactly like him, except that he was younger, probably Naruto's age.

Both green abominations were running towards her and Naruto with a boulder held on their backs.

"No! We'll do three thousand push-ups!" The younger boy yelled on top of his lungs, freaking Yugito out.

Naruto had enough as he noticed that Yugito turned around despite his warnings. _'Fuck.' _He cursed when he saw her pale face. He had to act quickly.

"YOUR OVERFLOWING YOUTH IS BURNING WITHIN YOU, LEE!" Gai yelled on top of his lungs when he was three meters away from Naruto.

The blue haired boy couldn't take it anymore. He balled his fist and pulled back, channeling both reiryoku and chakra into the punch. When Gai was in the range of Naruto's arm, he punched his face as hard as he could, launching the ridiculously clad jonin right into his mini-me and then further through Konoha. "SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!" He yelled as the two green beasts disappeared behind the horizon.

_'Damn, that must have hurt.' _Grimmjow commented.

Naruto panted slightly as he successively managed to get rid of the problem. He turned to see Yugito lying on the ground in a fetal position, tightly clutching her bag and muttering "Bushy-brows, mini-me, tight outfit. Kill me please."

Naruto sweat dropped, but felt sorry for her. He went through the same thing when he saw them for first time, and inwardly hoped that her sanity was intact. He kneeled next to her and picked the scarred for life girl off the ground. "Calm down, they're gone." He said that few times before she calmed down, and nervously looked around.

"They're gone?" She asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yes."

She breathed out heavily. "Thank goddess." Yugito said and picked her bag up.

Naruto smirked. "Thank the gods that you did not experience their genjutsu. I wouldn't be able to wake you up if you did."

"You mean they can be even worse?!" She shouted with wide eyes.

Before Naruto could answer, his Pesquisa picked up a signature behind him that ran in his direction. He turned around to see a young girl with dark brown hair and steel-grey eyes. She wore her hair in Chinese-style buns on either side of her head with short fringe-bangs falling over her forehead protector which she wore in a traditional manner – on forehead. Her blouse was blue with high collar and had puffy black pants that looked like a hakama.

"Hey, Naruto! Have you seen my sensei?" The girl asked. Naruto looked at her for a second before his memory recalled that girl from academy. She was a year older than him as he saw her once when he attended to academy.

He was indifferent about her, but had a respect towards the girl as he recalled that she took her training seriously. If he wasn't wrong, she was the strongest kunoichi of her class, and second or third shinobi overall in her year.

"Tenten, right?" He asked, to which the girl was taken a back slightly, but nodded. "Didn't you see that green blur flying past you?"

Tenten looked behind her and saw her other teammate running up to her. "That was him?"

"I told you that this was him, this pathetic Lee was with him too." Her other teammate said angrily coldly.

He had long, black hair which reached the middle of his back and was tied back a few inches above the end in a loose ponytail, while two straps attached to a smaller headband underneath his ninja forehead protector framed his face. His eyes were a dead giveaway that he was from the Hyuuga clan. The featureless white eyes, Hyuuga clan's Byakugan.

He wore a khaki shirt, under which he wore a dull blue shirt with a mesh armour underneath it, dark brown shorts, blue shinobi sandals and also had bandages wrapped around his right arm and leg.

His facial expression was stern, hard and cold that gave him a serious look along with the Byakugan.

Speaking of which, the Byakugan was one of Konoha's greatest asset as it was one of the three great dojutsu, along with Uchiha's Sharingan and the legendary Rinnegan.

When the Hyuuga's bloodline was activated, the user's pupils become more distinct, and the veins near their temples bulged. Also, differently from the other two dojutsu, all members of Hyuuga clan possessed and could use the bloodline from birth, as opposed to needing to awaken or else, not inheriting it at all.

Naruto wasn't sure what the exact abilities of Byakugan were, but he thought that it provided a 360 degree sight and showed enemy's chakra network.

Naruto recognized the boy from the academy. He was that cold, arrogant piece of an asshole named Neji Hyuuga. He didn't like him at all, but he had to admit that Neji took his training seriously.

Neji's eyes narrowed when he saw Yugito's headband, grit his teeth and immediately went to a jyuuken stance with his Byakugan active.

"You, what are you doing in Konoha?" He demanded an answer.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the boy's actions. "Stand down, she's not an enemy." He said, but Neji merely glared at him.

"I know you. You're that piece of failure from academy." Neji smirked, knowing that this would anger Naruto. "I'm surprised that you even graduated, but that doesn't matter, get away from her." He said and leaped at Yugito.

The girl was already ready for any hostile action from the Hyuuga, as she was warned about their grudge against Kumo, so when he leaped at her, she already had a kunai in her hand.

However, before Neji's palm made a contact with Yugito's skin, Naruto moved in with a quick Sonido that left a booming noise.

Naruto appeared between the two, caught Neji's right wrist with his right arm, pulled him downward successfully disturbing his balance and nailed him right in the cheek with his knee. After that blow, he didn't give Neji any time to recoil as he let go off him, spun on his heel and slammed his left leg into his ribs, sending the Hyuuga to the ground.

Neji grit his teeth, resisting the pain and rolled away. He quickly stood up and was about to use his family technique to take down Naruto, but was surprised to see a katana half an inch away from his right eye.

The blue haired boy glared at him. "If you try something like this again you stupid fuck, I swear I'll rip out those eyes of yours." Naruto threatened him, to which Neji quickly pulled away. "As for what she does here, she's an envoy from Kumo and I won't tolerate any threats in her direction, especially from a Hyuuga." He growled. "Got it?"

Neji merely glared at him without an answer. Instead, he looked to his left at the bun-haired girl. "Tenten, let's find our sensei." He said to the brown haired girl who stood in shock, seeing that Neji got beaten so quickly. "And you, I'm not done with you yet." The Hyuuga looked at Naruto and left them.

"R-Right." Tenten said and said a quiet apology to both Naruto and Yugito. After that, she left trailing behind the ego-hurt Neji.

Naruto scoffed at the pitiful Hyuuga. "Arrogant fucking pricks with sticks up their asses." He snorted and turned around facing the Kumo girl. "Are you alright?"

Yugito, still holding her kunai nodded slowly. She was baffled at the speed that Naruto moved with. She noticed him appear in front of her, take down the Hyuuga and end the conflict with his katana. All in four seconds total.

"Are you alright?" Naruto asked the girl.

Yugito nodded. "Except ringing in my ears, I'm fine." She chuckled as she referred to Gai's inhumanly yells, making Naruto chuckle a bit. "Thanks you."

Naruto waved it off. "Don't worry, just doing my job. Let's just get going before any other shit-up does this again." He answered and resumed his walk. The blonde girl let her lips curve a bit and followed him.

They didn't say a word since they resumed their way to wherever Naruto lead them to, but instead enjoyed the silence and the morning air. Soon the trail of buildings ended and was replaced by a thin forest. Naruto led her into an open clearing that had a river splitting it in two.

Yugito immediately noticed several claw imprints on trunks of trees around, few rusty shurikens and kunais scattered around and the grass stomped down until only dirt remained in a circle next to the river.

Naruto sat down on the grass under a humongous oak tree nearby that was probably five meters in diameter, hiding in its shadows from the sun's heat that would come down very soon.

"This is my favorite place." Naruto spoke, motioning Yugito with his hand to sit down. "I used to train here few years ago before I graduated and my team had assigned a training ground. I still come here to train every now and then, though."

Yugito sat down leaning against the tree few feet away from Naruto. "So, what is your relation to the Hokage?" She asked the question he avoided earlier.

"Do I really have to tell you?" He asked and groaned when he saw the girl nod with interest. "Oh hell no, you're first."

"What?" Yugito asked, not understanding what he meant.

"You wanted to tell me of…" Naruto quickly glanced at her, "your problems regarding your burden, right?"

The blonde girl clenched her fists when he mentioned that. "Yes… I-"

"Aren't you getting to comfortable, telling me that?" Naruto cut in with his arms crossed across his chest. "I mean, we barely know each other for more than three hours."

Yugito looked to the side, avoiding his gaze. "Well… so far you're kind of nice to me and no one ever before had protected me or wanted to hear me out… I already told you that I was like a ghost in Kumo. Everyone ignored me except my uncle…"

"So that's why the Raikage sent you here, to Konoha?" He asked, getting a surprised look from Yugito. Before she could ask him how he knew that, he answered. "Minato told me."

"Right, my uncle sent me here as his ambassador. With me knowing quite a lot about politics only helped his decision." She answered with a smile. "You still want to hear me out?"

Naruto nodded. "Sure, I don't have anything else to do as I'm stuck with you, so go on." He said and slid down on the grass, so he faced upwards at the tree's branches. "So what was your life in Kumo?"

Yugito took a deep breath and began speaking. "I'm an orphan, my mother died during the childbirth and my father died of illness thirteen years ago. I can't even remember his face…" She sighed and proceeded further. "I became a jinchuuriki at age of two after the previous one lost control and went berserk in the middle of village. Ever since I remember I was alone. The orphanage got rid of me when I was six and I had to live alone in a small apartment that my uncle gave me. Everything I had was a small paycheck."

She sighed audibly. "That was when my life became a real struggle for life. No one would sell me food or would sell low-quality food with ridiculous price. Kids of my age and sometimes older thought of me as a freak and treated me as bad as the adults, sometimes even ganging up with some adults to beat me. I couldn't even fight back as I would be the one taking all the blame. The ANBU that were chosen to look over me waited to the last second before intervening to prevent my death." Yugito began sobbing a little. "Those pricks enjoyed every second of my suffering."

Naruto stayed quiet, letting the girl calm down. "Sometime later I got enrolled into the academy. I managed to convince my uncle to give me some papers on politics I could learn them as well as they interested me. This is how I went through the academy. I trained two third of the time and studied politics the rest of my free time. It helped me avoiding some dangerous situations where I resorted to law to avoid… my skin getting beat up."

"Don't you have any good memories about your childhood?" Naruto asked curiously.

Yugito tapped her chin. "Well, there is one. Nuzume." She answered

"That brown cat of yours?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, I found her four years ago when she was merely a small kitten." She answered with a smile as she thought about her. "Not long after I found out that she was actually a gift." Yugito said with a short chuckle.

"What's so funny?"

"To think, that the only gift I ever got was a few week old cat from a pack of ninja cats, amusing right?" She laughed.

Naruto looked dumbfounded. "A pack of ninja cats gave you a cat as a present? What kind of bullshit is that?"

"That's not bullshit!" Yugito hissed to Naruto who lifted his hands in defense. "I think it's because of Nibi that the cats were so friendly to me. I even understand the feline speech. Amazing right?" She smirked.

Naruto just sat up and looked at her with a flat look on his face. "I understand it too." He and Grimmjow chuckled inwardly when they saw her flabbergasted look on her face.

"W-What?" She asked with wide eyes. "How?"

Naruto shrugged and rolled up his right sleeve revealing a tattoo of a black panther. "This baby here is a storage seal and it lets me understand feline speech."

"Where did you get it?" She asked with genuine curiosity, leaning forward to inspect the seal that was hidden beneath the tattoo. However, as she leaned forward, Naruto stopped her with a flick on her forehead. "Whatever. I bet that you're just bluffing." Yugito said and rubbed her forehead.

"Aren't you two getting too comfortable?" Someone asked, making Yugito tense. Naruto immediately recognized the voice that belonged to his teammate. "Man, we leave you for few hours and you're already all over her."

Naruto snarled and looked upwards to see his brown haired teammate standing on a branch above them. "Shut up Tenrai. What are you doing here?" He asked. Yugito recognized the name as one of her bodyguards, so she calmed down a bit. "Lost your girlfriend in the town?"

Naruto had to duck to avoid getting I hit in the head by an acorn. "Shut up, you. She ditched me." He answered to which Naruto mumbled something, making apostrophes in the air with his fingers, earning an acorn to his head. "So, what are you doing? Having a date right off the bat?"

This time it was Yugito who lost it. "Shut up already! We were just talking." She yelled, pointing a finger on Tenrai.

"Yeah, and pigs can fly." Naruto's teammate laughed, seeing the flustered look on Yugito's face and an angry one on Naruto's face. "Sheesh, calm down you two I'm joking." He said and dropped down to the ground, sitting in front of Naruto who grimaced.

"Don't joke like that again or I'll shove my boot up your ass, again." Naruto threatened and smirked when he saw Tenrai's muscles tighten.

"Don't you think that I get enough punishment from Mizuko? She's violating my nuts on daily basis! I won't be able to reproduce if it keeps up." He whined and cupped his family jewels protectively. "I swear she's a monster-" He whispered, but got cut off by a boot to back of his head.

"Who are you calling a monster, dumb ass?!" Mizuko, who suddenly appeared behind him yelled and stomped on his back. "You suddenly ditch me and I find you here, messing with Naruto and an envoy!"

Yugito sweat dropped as she watched the scene in front of her. "Is it normal?" She asked Naruto who had his eyes closed and had his arms folded behind his neck.

The blue haired teen cracked his right eye open. "Get used to it." Then he opened both his eyes. "Right… Mizuko, stop murdering him, he's suffered enough. You'll give him concussion if you keep up."

The pale girl huffed and kicked Tenrai's head one last time and sat down next to the blonde girl. "We haven't introduced each other, right?" She asked with a smile on her face as her personality took a full swing around. Yugito shook her head in a no. "Okay, Naruto do the honors."

"Can't you do it for once? I swear…" He groaned and pushed himself up. "Alright, since I'm the only one who knows at least your name, let's introduce each other. What are your names, your likes, your dislikes, hobbies, and eventual dreams for the future?"

"Let me begin." Mizuko said and patted her chest with a cough. "I'm Hasu Mizuko, I'm fourteen and I'm the leader of Team Eleven. I like eating rice balls, harming Tenrai and training. I dislike… no I hate two certain persons, dislike sour food and hot days. My dream for the future is to be a great kunoichi like Senju Tsunade or Uzumaki Kushina." She finished with a smile. "Tenrai, you're up." She added.

The brown haired teen groaned and sat up from the ground. "My ass…" He groaned and dodged a punch to his face. "Name's Hebun Tenrai, I'm fifteen in two months and I'm a punching bag for Mizuko." He groaned, earning a short snort from Naruto and a giggle from Yugito. "I enjoy sparring with Naruto and training with our sensei. I dislike being a punching bag, arrogant pricks, sweets and the same people Mizuko hates. I don't really have a hobby and my dream is to become an ANBU captain."

"Who are those two people?" Yugito asked curiously.

"Don't even ask, they won't tell you and neither will I." Naruto snorted in answer. "Alright, name's Jaegerjaquez Naruto, I'm thirteen, my likes are my team, fighting, my summons, ginseng tea and good challenges. I dislike the Hokage and arrogant fucks like the Hyuuga clan. My hobby is hunting for game with my summons and my dream is to be as strong as once Rikudo Sennin was." As he finished, an uncomfortable silence fell upon the group. "What? A dream is a dream."

Tenrai snorted. "Pfft, yeah like you will ever be this powerful."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Wanna bet?" His eyes seemed to sparkle. "You can't even defeat me in spars and I'm younger than you."

Tenrai and Naruto glared at each other, before both were slapped in their heads by Mizuko. "Calm down you idiots, it's Yugito-san's turn now." She said and turned to the blonde girl.

Yugito seemed nervous as she never had a conversation longer than five minutes with anyone, but spoke nonetheless. "Uh, my name is Nii Yugito as you already know. I like my cat Nuzume, Tekkadon, milk and silence. I dislike unnecessary violence and anything spicy. My hobby is playing on shamisen**(2)**." She stopped and patted her large green bag. "I haven't really thought about what my dream for future is though." Yugito finished with an embarrassed blush on her face.

Tenrai managed to speak up. "So, you're pretty much a cat in human skin?" He asked, but got three glares in his direction and a slap to his head. "Uh, forget about that."

"Shouldn't you two get going? You're making her uncomfortable." Naruto pointed out, which was true. Yugito felt like she wanted to dig a hole and hide in it.

"It's your fault, Tenrai!" Mizuko hissed and smacked his head, again.

"Stop hitting me, woman!" Tenrai shouted at her and pushed her to the ground.

Naruto groaned at the hopeless scene in front of him. "For fuck's sake, can't you two just go? I'm getting tired of you." He begged, to which his two teammates stopped wrestling on the ground.

Mizuko stood and huffed. "Fine, then! You're sleeping outside today." She said and dragged Tenrai away from them.

Naruto chuckled. "I'll be fine, don't you worry about me!" He shouted, making Mizuko flip him off over her shoulder.

Naruto let out a sigh of relief when they left the field of sight. "Sorry about that, I'm not in good mood either." He addressed to Yugito.

Yugito didn't answer, but instead looked in the direction where Naruto's teammates left. Naruto rolled his eyes at the lack of her answer. "Come on, you can't be that socially awkward, are you?"

This seemed to strike a chord as Yugito turned away from him. "No, I just… this is the longest conversation I had with anyone except Nuzume in my entire life. I thought that you three would simply follow me as guardians and not speak to me…" She whispered.

"Oh? That's the most polite 'shut the fuck up' I've ever heard." Naruto joked, which successfully got a short chuckle from Yugito. "You wanted to know my connection with the Hokage?"

Yugito's eyes perked up at this. "Why that all of sudden?"

"Well, you told me briefly about yourself, so I thought why not." Naruto answered and crossed his arms on his chest. "But if you don't want to know…"

"I want to know!" The blonde jinchuuriki said quickly.

"Aren't you too curious?" Naruto smirked. "Well then, I pretty much exiled myself from Namikaze clan few months ago."

Yugito stared at him blankly. "You expect me to believe you?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "Say whatever you want. As much as I loathe it, I am related to Minato, his wife is my mother and his daughter is my twin sister. And the funniest thing is, he's not my father." Naruto explained with a grin.

The blonde girl merely looked at him with an unchanged expression. "You know that you're violating the laws of the nature right now? How can his daughter be your twin sister, and yet you aren't his son?"

Naruto yawned. "Now that's a secret. I might tell you someday if I care enough." He answered, and his ears twitched when his Pesquisa picked up a weak signature closing in. "Your cat is coming."

Yugito furrowed her brows in confusion, which was soon explained by a loud meow. The brown feline was running quickly towards Yugito, and ultimately crashed into her stomach making her giggle. "Hi there Nuzume-chan!" She smirked and patted the cat behind its ears. "So you said that you can understand feline speech, care to prove it?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders again. _'What's up with you today brat? You aren't your normal self.' _Grimmjow asked, but was ignored by Naruto who turned his head towards the brown cat.

The feline glared at him and meowed loudly with bared fangs. Naruto raised his eyebrow. He didn't hear the cat actually speak as human, but thanks to his seal, he could deduce the words that were hidden in the meow. Something that went by lines of "If you did anything to her, I'll cut you to ribbons!"

Naruto moved his bored look on Yugito. "She said that if I did anything to you, she'll cut me to ribbons." He said, getting a surprised look from Yugito and somewhat from Nuzume.

"I-I see…" Yugito whispered to him. "Sorry for not believing you."

"Nah, we're fine. I'd make a request though." He said, getting a look of interest from Yugito. "Stop being so awkward with conversations or you'll go insane. No one knows about your shit here except me and the Hokage, so you don't have to worry about being rejected or something." Naruto explained and groaned right after. "Man, I still don't get it why Minato would even me tell about it. It's as if he plays some stupid game just to mess with me."

Yugito stood up, stretched and yawned loudly. "As much as I enjoy talking with you, Naruto-san, I'm tired and I'd like to take a nap at my place." She smiled.

"Please don't call me –san, it makes me feel old." Naruto grumbled and stood up. "So where is your apartment?"

"Why, in the embassy, of course." Yugito answered, which made Naruto facepalm himself.

"Right… let's go then." Naruto said and headed off to the embassy. If he remembered right, it was a medium sized building for a single envoy, as there was never more than one ambassador in a village.

* * *

Roughly thirty minutes ago after Yugito bid a short good bye to Naruto and five minutes since she took a shower, she crashed onto her bed in her nightgown. Even though it was middle of a day, she was very tired after the trip from Kumo to Konoha.

"It doesn't seem that bad as I thought it would be…" Yugito mumbled to herself. "People aren't that bad either, especially Naruto." Yugito smiled when she thought of him.

He was a sincere person with a hint of mystery about him. Never before had she met a person who wouldn't care about her jinchuuriki status, and instead treat her like a normal person. Even though he had a bit of foul language, he was a kind person. Or at least it was what she thought.

"I wonder how long will I be staying here…" She thought and hugged Nuzume who slept peacefully on her bed. Not long after, she fell asleep herself.

* * *

**Welp, this is the end of this chapter. Next chapter will be half intermission to the chunin exams, slight interaction between Yugito and Naruto and the other half will be more focused on Akiho, Sasuke, Sakura, Haku and the rest of the gang as they go through the Chunin exams. During the exams, Naruto and his team will be split up between guarding Yugito and a certain mission given to them by Hokage. Peace!**

**(1) Tekkadon** (鉄火丼) is a rice dish topped with thin-sliced raw tuna (or salmon) sashimi.

**(2) shamisen** or **samisen** (三味線, literally "three strings"), also called **sangen** (三絃, literally "three strings"), is a three-stringed, Japanese musical instrument played with a plectrum called a _bachi_.


	11. Chapter 11

**As I promised, here is the new installment of "Konoha's Panther". This will mainly cover the first part of the Chunin Selection Exam, so yeah.**

**Also... holy balls of Lucifer! My story passed over 100k views! Thank you a lot! Hugs to everyone!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bleach**

* * *

A few days have passed since Yugito's arrival and things have been rather quiet in Konoha – or as quiet as they could be, considering that the Chunin exams were starting today.

Right now, Naruto was eating his breakfast while waiting for Tenrai to wake up and Mizuko to finish her bath. It was around two hours before they should meet up with Yugito and pretty much follow her while she did whatever she had to do.

Naruto sighed thinking about the upcoming event. Honestly, he wished that he had been participating in these exams, mostly because he loved to fight – a trait he obviously had gotten from Grimmjow – and what's a better opportunity for a fight than in an exam where candidates from almost every village fought for their lives?

_'Calm your tits, brat.' _Grimmjow cut into Naruto's train of thoughts, getting an annoyed groan from the younger teen. _'It'd be no fun anyways, you'd outclass everyone there.'_

This made Naruto reconsider his opinion a little, before he agreed with Grimmjow's logic. _'Valid point, but I'd like to fight someone other than you and Tenrai for once.' _He whined a bit. _'Tenrai's getting owned by me, but when I fight against you it's me who gets the shorter side of the stick.'_

Grimmjow rolled his eyes in annoyance. _'Phew! I have hundreds of years of experience in a fight for your life, while you've been training for less than a decade.' _The Arrancar mocked his young apprentice.

_'You still got fucked up by that guy… what was his name? Ichigo something?" _Naruto pointed out in a mocking tone.

_'Shut up, it didn't count. I got back stabbed by Nnoitra.' _Grimmjow argued, but that only got a short laugh in response from Naruto. _'Shut the hell up already! I'm done!'_

Naruto grinned and kept his best to not laugh and choke on the sandwich he was eating. _'Right, do whatever the fuck you want.' _The blue haired teen answered, but when he got no response he deduced that Grimmjow wasn't in mood anymore.

"Fucking princess…" He groaned under his breath after he finished his breakfast. Glancing on the clock and then on his sleeping male teammate, he rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Naruto, can you wake Tenrai up?" The voice of his white haired friend came from behind the bathroom's door.

Without answering, Naruto stood up from his bed and made his way towards the sleeping form of Tenrai. He leaned down to his ear and took a deep breath and in relatively hushed tone, he began waking him up.

"WAKE THE HELL UP YOU LAZY FUCK!" Naruto yelled on top of his lungs, successively making Tenrai's eyes shoot open, jump from the bed and end up in a crashing course with a wooden shelf that was two meters above his head.

"Gah!" The brown haired sleeper shouted as he hit the shelf with his head. "Fuck you, Naruto!"

Naruto gave him a victorious smirk. "Feelings mutual buddy."

"God, fuck my life!" Tenrai yelled and covered his face with a pillow. "I had such a good dream!"

"And pray to tell me what was it about?" Mizuko, who had just left the bathroom asked, twirling her wet strands of hair between her fingers.

Still with his face behind the pillow, Tenrai answered without a second thought. "Yeah dude! Three girls, you know? And it was all about to get fun!" He shouted and then froze when he felt the malicious feeling coming from a certain female in the room.

"Tenrai!" Mizuko yelled and jumped at the boy with no gentle intentions with her nails bared like claws of a predator.

"Not my face!" Tenrai yelled in horror dodging her dangerous claws, but then saw what she was aiming for with her leg. "W-w-wait! Not there!" He shouted desperately, but to no avail.

Not a second later, throughout Konoha resonated the most dreadful, painful shriek of pain that made every man shiver and unconsciously cover their family jewels.

Back on the spot of crime, Tenrai was lying on the ground with his face completely pale, muttering incomprehensible gibberish to himself. Naruto saw the satisfied smirk on Mizuko's face and decided that it was best to keep his mouth shut.

_'Karma's going to get me so bad.' _He gulped and jumped out through the open window before Mizuko could direct her remaining fury on him.

* * *

With a giant smile on her face, Akiho made her way towards Konoha's Shinobi Academy. She was really looking forward to the Chunin Exams that were starting just about two hours.

As much as she was sure she and her team were prepared for it, her mother and father were really worried about her – especially Kushina. Akiho giggled a little to herself when she recalled how Kushina made sure that her little girl was fully prepared. Fifteen times!

She unconsciously checked the straps that held her large utility scroll secured on her back and nodded to herself that everything was fine.

When she arrived at the academy front door, she noticed that Sakura was already there, waiting for the rest of her team. "Sakura-chan!" Akiho shouted, welcoming the pink haired girl.

Sakura's eyes perked up when she heard the familiar voice and her face brightened up with a smile. "Hey!" The pink haired girl welcomed her friend.

Akiho looked around and noticed the lack of her other teammate. "Where is Sasuke?" She questioned the pinkette. "Don't tell me that he chickened out?"

"Like hell I would run from something this easy." Akiho heard a grunt from behind her that was followed by a short giggle. The auburn haired girl turned around and was welcomed by the sight of Sasuke and surprisingly Haku who was standing next to him.

"Haku-san? What are you doing here?" She asked the dark haired girl.

Haku just turned and gave her a small smile. "I'm just bidding you good luck on the exams." She answered and turned around to leave. Before she left though, she whispered to Sasuke's ear. "Just don't get killed."

Sakura's silent curses directed towards Haku were ignored along with the clearly visible face of envy.

Sasuke frowned a little at Haku's whisper, but nodded nonetheless. After Haku left the trio, he turned towards the academy building. "Let's do this." He spoke solemnly and entered the academy, quickly followed by his two teammates.

It wasn't long before they noticed a crowd of a few Genins trying to enter the room number 301, but they were denied entering by two Chunins who stood in front of the doors.

Sasuke scoffed a little when he noticed what was actually going on. _'I don't even need to use my Sharingan on this…' _He thought and was about to point out the matter to everyone in the hall, but his shoulder was grabbed by his teammate, Akiho.

"Don't, this will weed out the opposition." The Namikaze girl said, getting a slightly confused look from Sakura.

Before the pinkette could ask anything, Sasuke nodded to Akiho and pointed to the sign above the doors, showing Sakura what was the matter.

Sakura's eyes widened a little when she realized what he meant. The number on the sign above the doors said 301 and they were on the second floor, not third. "But some of them are from Konoha, shouldn't we help them?" She asked.

"No, we won't be allies during the exam anyway, so it's pointless. If they can't detect a pathetic genjutsu like this one, then they'd be dead weight." Sasuke answered and turned around, getting a snort from Akiho.

"And you were the one who wanted to point it out to everyone…" The auburn haired girl groaned and followed the Uchiha up the stairs to the third floor, where the exam room was placed.

When they came up the stairs, they noticed their sensei, Kakashi leaning against the wall reading his book.

"What are you doing here, sensei?" Akiho asked curiously, getting an eye smile in return.

"You hurt my feelings, Akiho-chan, am I not allowed as your sensei to bid you good luck?" He asked with a chuckle, getting a sheepish smile in return from both Sakura and Akiho. "I'm sure that you will blow through the exam easily, now repeat what I taught you and go."

Sasuke rolled his one visible eye and along with his female teammates lazily quoted Kakashi's words. "In the ninja world, those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash." The trio said with a monotone voice, getting another eye smile from Kakashi.

"That's the spirit, good luck." The silver haired Jonin finished and left the area with a quick shunshin.

Without another word, Sasuke opened the doors in front of them and entered the room where the first part of the written exam would be held. As soon as he and his team entered, they were bombarded by the looks from pretty much everyone in the Chunin exams. Over two hundred Genins were in the room, and everyone was looking at them deeply, obviously daring them to do anything stupid.

_'What numbers… are they all taking the exam?' _Sakura thought, suppressing a shiver as few beads of sweat trickled from her face. _'They all look so strong…'_

"Sasuke-kun! You're late!" A certain blonde Yamanaka girl shouted, jumping on Sasuke's back and folding her arms around his neck, much to the Uchiha's discomfort. "I haven't seen you for a while, so I've been waiting in excitement…"

Seeing her former friend's actions, Sakura developed a giant tick on her forehead, wanting nothing else than clawing out the blonde's eyes. "Get away from Sasuke-kun, Ino pig!" The pinkette shouted at the Yamanaka, gaining even more attention from everyone gathered in the room.

"Why, if it isn't Sakura…" Ino grumbled in response to the pinkette, slowly letting go of Sasuke's neck. "…big, ugly forehead as always."

"What did you say?!" Sakura shrieked, but was seemingly ignored by everyone.

"You guys are taking this stupid test too?" A voice called from behind them. Akiho turned around to see Shikamaru and his friend Choji with him. "Don't die."

Akiho raised an eyebrow at Shikamaru's statement, and decided to toy a little with him. "Oh, the idiot trio has arrived!" She said with a grin that was slowly becoming like Naruto's.

"Don't call us that!" Choji and Shikamaru said in unison in response to her mocking. "Man… this sucks."

"Yahoo! Found you!" They heard a familiar shout that came from a certain dog-boy, followed by a timid welcome from Hinata and silence from Shino. "Well well, everyone is assembled."

Shikamaru sighed and gave him a narrow look. "Geez Kiba, you guys too?" He asked with a bored voice. Shikamaru didn't even want to participate in this exam. The only reason he did was because his sensei Asuma forced him to. He only wanted to watch clouds all day long.

"I see… not counting Naruto, all 9 of this year's rookie Genin are taking the exam." Kiba pointed out with a smile on his face followed by a bark of agreement from the dog, Akamaru that was seated on Kiba's head. The Inuzuka boy also noticed that he got Akiho's attention when he mentioned Naruto's absence. "I wonder how far we will get… Eh, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke rolled his lone eye, mildly surprised that no one questioned his eye-patch - Although, he was thankful for that as he did not want to explain it all. "Pft, you seem confident, Kiba." He answered with a smirk on his face.

"We did a lot of training, we won't lose to you." He answered with a grin on his face and then turned to Akiho. "By the way, where is Naruto? Don't tell me that he chickened out."

Akiho smirked - Oh she would love their reaction when they hear about Naruto. However, surprisingly it wasn't her who answered that question as Sasuke beat her to it, much to her annoyance. "You didn't hear? He's a Chunin already." He answered and almost laughed at Kiba's and everyone else's expressions - Almost.

"What?! That's unfair!" Kiba shouted with an amusing expression on his face.

"Hey you guys, you should be quieter." Someone said and approached them, a teen boy with ash-grey hair and a pair of glasses of his face. Taking into account the headband on his forehead, he was a Konoha Genin just like them. "You guys are rookies just out of the academy, right? Screaming like school girls… geez… this isn't a picknic."

Akiho quickly noticed that he was a Konoha genin, but she felt at unease around this guy. "Who do you think you are?" She growled to the ash-haired teen.

"I'm Kabuto." He simply answered. "But instead of that, look behind you."

_'Behind?' _Everyone thought as they turned around, only to see three _very _annoyed faces that screamed danger.

"Those guys behind you are from the Amegakure, they have short tempers . Everyone is nervous about the exam, quiet down before you cause a scene." Kabuto berated them, getting a few nods in return. "Well, I can't blame you. You're clueless rookies after all. You remind me of how I used to be."

"Kabuto-san… right?" Sakura asked, getting a nod from Kabuto. "So this is your second time?"

"Nope, it's my seventh time." He answered to Sakura's question, getting a few ridiculous looks in return from the rookies. "This exam is held twice a year, so this is my fourth year."

"Woah, you must suck." Kiba bluntly pointed out, getting a snort of laugh from Akiho and a deadpanned face from Kabuto.

Sakura was about to ask another question, but she was silenced by Akiho when the auburn girl slung her arm around the pinkette's neck. "Now, now. Let's keep low for now. We don't want any more attention, right?" She said with a smile, dragging Sakura and Sasuke away from the group to a desk.

Before anyone could say anything, a large plume of smoke exploded in the front of the room, revealing over two dozens of Shinobi clad in rather formal uniforms, the exception being the one in front who had a dark trench coat.

"Thanks for waiting…" The man in the coat said in deep voice, so cold and sharp that if it could, it would cut through steel. In this case, it cut through everyone's nerves. "I am Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the Chunin selection exam's first test.

Ignoring everyone's nervous whispers, he continued. "We will now start the first test in the Chunin exam. Instead of your current seating arrangements…" He paused for a moment to pick up a small tab with a number on it. "…you will pick one of these tabs and sit in the seat assigned to you. We will then hand out the exams. "

It only took around ten minutes for everyone to be seated in their assigned seats and another five for the proctors to hand out the paper sheets for the exam.

"Do not turn your tests over yet and listen closely to what I'm about to say." Ibiki announced, getting everyone's attention. "There are many important rules to this first test. I'll write it on the board while I explain, but questions will not be allowed, so listen carefully."

_'Rules? No questions allowed? What kind of test is that?' _Akiho thought, but her inward ranting was stopped by Ibiki who continued the explanations.

"The first rule. You guys will all start off with ten points. The test is made up of ten questions and each one is worth a point, but this test uses a subtraction system." He explained the rules with his gruff, cold voice. "Basically, if you answer all the questions correctly, you keep ten points. But say if you miss three questions, you lose three points and will have seven."

"The second rule… this is a team test. Whether you pass or not will be determined by the combined score of your teammates." Ibiki's words resulted in a lot of whispers going through the classroom. "So, each team will compete to see how many points they can hold on to from the initial team total of thirty."

Sasuke smirked at this. _'This should be easy. Both Sakura and Akiho are bookworms and I'm not that bad either in the theory.' _

"Ok, now for the most important rule. The third rule is that during the exam anyone caught by the testing officers doing sneaky activities, namely cheating…" He paused for the dramatic effect that definitely pressured many Genins gathered in the classroom. "…Will have two points subtracted for every offense. So there will be some who lose all their points during the exam and be _kindly_ asked to leave."

_'I see… so there are ways to lose points besides answering incorrectly.' _Sakura and Akiho thought at the same time.

"We'll be having our eyes on you guys!" One of the testing officers shouted to the Genins, followed by a set of chuckles from other officers.

"Realize that the pathetic ones that get caught cheating will be destroying themselves." The scarred head-proctor said slowly, putting even more pressure on the Genins. "As shinobis trying to achieve the level of Chunin, be proud ninjas."

Ibiki took a deep breath and continued. "And the final rule, those that lose all their initial points during the test and those that don't answer any questions correctly, will be failed along with their two teammates." As soon as he finished, he and the officers pushed a considerable amount of chakra to intimidate everyone in the room.

Needless to say, it had a great effect as almost everyone started sweating, Sakura, Kiba, Choji, Ino and Hinata being the ones as well.

"The exam will last exactly one hour, begin!" Ibiki shouted, and not a second later the room was filled with noises of papers being turned.

_'Alright, let's see the first question.' _Sasuke thought as he scanned the words. '_First question is a cryptogram, easy, let's do it.'_

_'Question number two… "Line B, seen in the picture, is the greatest possible distance a shinobi can throw a shuriken from a tree of seven meters. For enemies who appear within the circumstance of the shuriken's range, explain the attack options using this distance. Show your work."' _Akiho read the second question and started laughing inwardly. _'What the hell! This is a ridiculously complicated question that requires a high amount of both book smarts and experience… There is no way Sasuke will be able to answer that… hell I doubt that everyone will be able to answer it… though I and Sakura can.' _The Namikaze girl thought as she glanced to where Sakura was seated. The pinkette was heatedly writing on her papers as if it would disappear in the next minute. She sighed and went to filling up the papers, inwardly hoping that Sasuke would manage. Akiho knew that the Uchiha wasn't the one who would read books every day. He was more of a practical experience Shinobi.

'_I can't… answer a single one of these…' _Sasuke thought hopelessly. _'Plus what's with the tenth question?'_

_"Question 10: This question will be revealed 45 minutes after the test begins. Listen to the examiner closely before answering." _

Sasuke sighed and glanced to the officers. _'What's with this? It's like they assume we'll cheat… what bastards… but all those guys watching us… they are probably marking checks on those sheets.'_ Just as he thought about that, one of the officers he watched wrote something down. _'Someone just got caught._'

_'Hold on… What did Ibiki say? Those pathetic ones that get caught cheating will be destroying themselves. As shinobi trying to achieve the level of Chunin, be proud…' _It was then it dawned on Sasuke. _'Wait a second! This isn't a test to just measure our intelligence. This is also a test to see how well we can gather information with our skills.'_

Sasuke chuckled to himself, getting a look from the neighboring Suna shinobi to his right. _'A shinobi must read underneath the underneath… so what the examiner meant was… if you're going to cheat, don't do it pathetically, but like a proud ninja and don't get caught. If you look at it that way, the subtraction point system and the fact that they let us get caught cheating four times before failing you makes all sense._' He summed it up and came with the conclusion. _'So basically what is being tested is our ability to gather information without being caught by the testing officers and the person whose test we are cheating off. Screw your mind games, Ibiki!' _

The Uchiha's eyes moved to a person two rows in front of him that was writing slowly. _'Alright, time to use my new toy.' _He thought and moved his eye-patch away, revealing his lone Sharingan and then closed his lone onyx eye. _'Alright, focus, look at his movements and… copy them!' _The Sharingan worked instantly, copying the movements of the hand of the person Sasuke cheated off, a perfect way to cheat and to not get caught.

Akiho had easy time writing her answers. Her studies with her father and Jiraiya really paid off as she blew through the exam like a breeze. She glanced to Sasuke who was writing quickly and smiled, knowing that they had this part of the exam in their pockets.

Suddenly, out of nowhere a kunai skipped next to her face, embedding itself in the paper of a Shinobi behind her.

"Whoah!" The Konoha Genin bolted on his legs. "What was that for?!" He shouted to the officer who threw the kunai.

The officer calmly answered. "You messed up five times, you fail." He stated, getting a shocked expression from the Genin.

"No… no way!"

Ibiki looked at the scene and announced the inevitable. "You and the two on your team, get out of here. Right now." He said and watched the miserable Genins leave the room. "Hurry up!"

Every few minutes, the sound of kunai being embedded in the desks could be heard in the room along with the failed Genins leaving the room.

Sakura smiled when she finished the ninth question without a problem. _'Ok, done! Now I have to wait for the tenth question.' _She thought and placed her pencil away.

_'This is working well…' _Sasuke thought as his wrist moved pretty much on its own as he looked at the wrist of a Genin two rows ahead. _'I was going to copy a few more people, but I hit the jackpot with him.' _

Back in the middle of the room, Ino smiled when she noticed that Sakura placed her pencil away. _'Looks like she's done, it's time to finally do it.' _She thought and made a ram seal. _'Sakura, I will acknowledge the size of your forehead and your intelligence, so be thankful that you will be the target of this jutsu, here I go…' _She thought with a smirk, and a second later her body limply slumped down on the desk.

Shikamaru - who was in the same row as her - noticed her limpness and narrowed his eyes. _'Ino's fallen asleep. She must have begun that jutsu, the one you can't resist.'_

Indeed, Sakura winced for a second and then she relaxed, unknown to the presence of another inside her. _'Sorry Sakura, I'm going to enter your spirit for a little while.' _Ino thought as she was present inside Sakura's spirit. She picked up Sakura's sheet and started memorizing the answers. _'I have to memorize these quickly… 2-3 minutes is the jutsu's limit. I have to enter Shikamaru's and Choji's bodies to copy these answers for them too… easy.'_

Meanwhile, one of the officers wrote something down on the board and stood up. "Number 102, stand up. You fail." She said, getting a pathethic mumbling from the failed Genin in return.

"Number 23, you fail." Another officer announced and was forced to remove the Genin from the classroom by force. "43 and 27, you fail as well, get out!"

_'That's 13 teams that have failed already…' _Akiho thought and then heard a slam on a desk behind her.

"Do you have to prove that I cheated five times?!" A Suna Genin shouted angrily. "Are you guys watching all-ugh!" His rant was abruptly stopped when he was slammed into a wall by one of the officers.

The exam officer held him propped against the wall by his collar. "Listen, among the Chunins we are the elite that were assembled to watch over this exam. We haven't missed anything you've done." The Chunin explained with a very annoyed voice. "You could say that this strength is our proof. Just be happy that _The Panther_ wasn't chosen to be an officer, or you'd have your pants full a long time ago."

* * *

"Achoo!" A loud sneeze broke the silence that Yugito, Mizuko and Tenrai shared. "God damn it."

"You caught a cold, Naruto?" Mizuko asked her friend with a smile.

Naruto rolled his eyes and wiped his nose. "Nah, someone's just probably thinking about me." He answered and yawned.

"Yeah, like anyone except your sister would think about you." Tenrai snorted at Naruto's remark.

"Shut up." Naruto groaned, resulting in a short giggle from Yugito who was lying on the grass. She and her 'bodyguards' - Although, she'd rather call them friends by now, as they were very nice to her - were resting in Naruto's favorite place, waiting for the sun to ease up a bit. "Speaking of which, I wonder how she's doing in the exam."

"I heard there was a lot of competition." Mizuko said. "There might even be preliminary fights to the Finals after the second part."

"You think?" Naruto asked, genuinely interested in the word 'fights', but was met by a shrug of shoulders by Mizuko.

"You think that the Hokage will let me… us watch the preliminary fights?" Yugito asked out of the blue.

"No idea, we might ask him tomorrow." Naruto muttered out and closed his eyes, intent on falling asleep.

* * *

Ibiki looked intently at the red head in the third row._ 'Hmm… what's that kid up to?_' He thought as he watched him. _'Completely calm during all of this… very impressive… if Hokage-sama is right, that's Suna's Jinchuuriki, Sabaku no Gaara… if not for the orders we'd take him down right now, right here…'_

While Ibiki was debating over this, Gaara was slowly gathering the dust in his open palm, creating an eye out of sand. He covered his right eye with two of his fingers and then crushed the sand-eye in his palm, causing the dust to wander off around the room.

Eventually, he picked his prey, a Konoha Genin. He manipulated the dust into the Genin's eyes, blinding him temporarily. While the Genin was complaining about the dust getting in his eye, trying to rub it out, a sand eye materialized above his papers.

Gaara could clearly see the answers through his third eye, and without wasting another second he wrote them down and then dispelled the jutsu.

"Excuse me!" A voice sounded in the middle of the room as a Suna Genin stood up.

"What is it?" One of the officers asked, and was quite surprised to hear the matter.

"Ugh… bathroom." The Suna Genin, Kankuro answered with a slight embarrassment in his voice.

Some of the officers sighed in annoyance as one approached the Suna Genin and put handcuffs on him. "We have to follow you to the bathroom."

"I see…" Kankuro nodded and left the room for the bathroom with the officer behind him.

* * *

When Kankuro entered the bathroom, he chuckled. "Those testing officers aren't very impressive…" He said while the skin on the officer's face started crumbling. "They didn't notice that there was an extra one, don't you think Karasu?" Kankuro said, referring to the puppet next to him.

"So start telling me from the first question…"

* * *

Ibiki scanned the significantly emptier room. _'Heh, so we've gotten rid of the trash, now let's get to the main… it's about that time.' _He thought and coughed out loud.

"Alright, we will start the tenth question now!" He shouted getting the attention of every Genin. Some were trembling in anxiety and some were sweating in fear from the tense atmosphere that was in the room. "Right, let's begin the tenth question."

_'Damn it, hurry up and return Kankuro! You're supposed to pass the answers to me before the tenth question.' _Kankuro's sister, Temari thought nervously.

"Now… before we get to it, I'd like to go over the added rules for this question." Ibiki said, but before he could get to them, the absent Genin arrived.

Kankuro walked in with a smug smirk on his face, but he froze when he heard one of the officers whispering to his ear. "Was your doll playing beneficial?" It surprised him, definitely.

He frowned and not saying a word walked past Temari's seat, discretely handing her a folded paper with answers.

After he seated himself, Ibiki continued. "I'll now explain, these are the rules of desperation…"

* * *

Meanwhile in a bar, the three senseis of the rookies were talking witch each other.

"Well…" Kakashi began with bored voice. "It sure is boring without my team. The missions will have to wait…"

Asuma, the sensei of team ten snorted at Kakashi's complains. "Don't worry you'll be busy again soon." He answered with a smirk on his face.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at Asuma's statement. "Why is that?"

Asuma sighed and took a drag from his cigarette. "I heard that examiner for the first test is Morino Ibiki." He said getting a deadpan look from Kakashi.

"Not that sadist…" The silver haired Jonin groaned, getting a questioning look from Kurenai, the sensei of team eight.

"Sadist?" The scarlet-eyed woman asked.

"Kurenai, you're a new Jonin, so you probably don't know…" Asuma said taking another drag from his cigarette.

Kurenai turned to him with a questioning look. "Who is he?"

"A pro."

Kurenai was taken aback by Kakahi's short response. "A pro? Of what?"

Asuma sighed and rubbed his temple. "Torture and Interrogation." He answered, getting a shocked look from Kurenai. "Lead Assassination squad, torture and interrogation captain, special Jonin Morino Ibiki."

Kakashi nodded thoughtfully. "Well… there may not be physical torture while taking a test, but they must be experiencing mental suffering brought on by his interrogation skills…" He added, getting a hesitant nod of understanding from Kurenai.

"He… Ibiki knows the human mind completely. That's what makes him scary." Asuma spoke solemnly in a voice that sent shivers through Kurenai's backside. "By attacking their mind, he can take control over their spirit. The person's weaknesses will all float to the surface."

Kakashi nodded at his comrade's words. "You can't escape his interrogation, you just can't."

* * *

"First, for the tenth question, you must decide whether you will take it or not." Ibiki announced solemnly.

_'Choose whether to take it?' _Sasuke thought surprised.

"Choose?!" The blonde Suna girl, Temari finally exploded. "What happens if we choose not to?!"

Ibiki sighed at the girl's sudden outburst. "If you choose not to, your points will be reduced to zero and you will fail along with your two teammates." He calmly explained, getting a lot of ridiculous looks in his direction from the Genins.

"What does that mean?!"

"Then of course we will decide to take the question!"

Ignoring the random rants from the Genins who were silenced by the officers, Ibiki continued. "And now, the other rule." He added, effectively silencing the entire room.

_'More?' _Sakura thought. _'Give it a break already!'_

"If you choose to take it and answer incorrectly…" Ibiki was about to drop the bomb onto everyone. "That person will lose the right to take the Chunin selection exam again."

A momentary period of silence caused by the shock was quite an amusing sight in Ibiki's opinion. It was unfortunately interrupted by Kiba's outburst.

"What kind of stupid rule is that?!" He bolted from his seat, pointing at Ibiki angrily. "There are guys here who have taken the exam before!"

Instead of getting an immediate answer, what the Genins got was a chuckle from Ibiki, mimicked by the officers which resulted in a creepy effect. "You guys were unlucky. This year it's my rules." He finished with a cold, deep voice that scared the shit out of Kiba.

"But I'm giving you a way out." If possible, Ibiki got even more attention from the Genins. "Those that aren't confident can choose not to take it and try next year."

Everyone was sweating nervously. Hell, even Akiho and the usually calm and collective Sasuke. _'So basically if one of the three chooses not to take it, everyone fails.' _Akiho thought as she bit her lip, almost drawing blood. _'And if you decide to take it and get it wrong you will be a Genin forever… Damn it! Both options are bad!'_

"Alright, those that do not wish to take it, raise your hand." Ibiki announced. "Once your number is confirmed, leave."

It didn't take long for some Genins to give up. Around five teams were removed from the classroom in the next two minutes.

"To hell with that!" Akiho suddenly shouted, slamming her fist on the desk and pointing with her other hand to Ibiki. "Don't listen to him. He's just screwing with your minds!"

The Namikaze girl had the entire room's attention on her now. Ibiki gave a slight smirk as he stared down Akiho. "I'll ask you again. Your life is riding on this decision. This is your last chance to quit!" He shouted, trying to force down the Genins' spirits.

Akiho had something else in mind, though as she saw one of Konoha Genin's slowly raise their hand. "So you'll just listen to what he says and behave like a stupid puppet?! He isn't giving you an order, so don't listen to it! I sure as hell won't back down now!" She shouted, getting several looks of approval from her peers.

_'Nice one, Akiho.' _Sakura thought with a smile on her face.

Ibiki narrowed his eyes at the girl. _'Interesting kid, she blasted away everyone's worries… as expected from Hokage-sama's daughter, definitely a Chunin material.' _He thought and then noticed how many people were left, everyone with confident looks on their faces. _'78 left, more than I expected. Anko won't be pleased.'_

_'Stretching this any longer won't make any difference.' _He thought to himself and grinned. "Good decisions, now to everyone still remaining…" He paused for the moment, and he could definitely hear several people swallowing in anticipation. "I congratulate you on passing the first test!"

_'Wha?' _Akiho thought flabbergasted.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Sasuke asked the man. "We already pass? What about the tenth question?"

Ibiki closed his eyes and grinned widely. "There never was such a thing. Or you could say that those two choices were the tenth question." He explained, getting a lot of ridiculous responses from the Genins.

"Hey! Then what were the nine questions for? They were pointless!" Temari shouted angrily.

"They were not pointless. They had already served their intended purpose." Ibiki began. "It was to test your individual information gathering ability. That purpose."

"First, as the rules explained, success on this test is based on the whole team doing well. This put the pressure on each member not to mess up things for their teammates." The head-examiner explained. "But the questions on this test were not the types a mere Genin could answer, so because of that I'm sure that most of people came to conclusion that to score points you'd have to cheat."

The flat look on Akiho's face was priceless. "Basically, the premise of this test is to cheat, and as cheating targets we had two or so Chunins who knew the answers mixed into the crowd to help you guys out." Ibiki explained, getting two short laughs from the set-up Chunins.

"But those that cheat poorly fail, of course." The Jonin said and reached to his bandana, untying it slowly. After a few seconds later, he removed it only to reveal a sick, disgusting sight on his bald scalp - horrible burns, screw holes scars from cutting, obviously effects of torture. "Because at times, information is more important than life and on missions and the battlefield, people risk their lives to get their hands on it."

_'Holy shit, his head!' _Kiba thought with wide eyes, almost puking at the sight.

"If the enemy or third party notices you, there is no guarantee the info will be accurate." Ibiki added, tying his bandana back on his head. "I want you to remember this. Important information in your hands can be a powerful weapon for your comrades and the village. So we had you gather information through cheating. This clearly separated those that did not have the right abilities."

"But I don't understand the final question." Kankuro spoke aloud, getting a smile from Ibiki in return.

"The tenth question is the true purpose of this test."

"What do you mean?" Shikamaru asked, speaking for the first time during the test.

"Let me explain… the tenth question… the 'take it' or 'not take it' decision… obviously these were painful choices. Those who choose the latter fail along with their teammates. Those who choose to take it could lose the chance to take the test again, a true leap of faith." He began explaining. "Now about those two choices… say you become Chunins. Your mission is to steal a secret document. The amount of enemy ninjas, their abilities, etc. is unknown to you. And of course there will be traps set all around you. Now do you accept, or not accept?"

It wasn't a question he wanted an answer from, as he continued. "Because you don't want to die, because you don't want your comrades hurt, can you avoid this dangerous mission?" He stopped for a second before shouting loudly. "The answer is **No!**"

"No matter what the danger, there are missions you can't avoid. The ability to be courageous and survive any hardships… this is the ability needed to become a Chunin captain." Everyone held their breaths for a moment as he spoke. "Those who can't put their destinies on the line, those who cling to the uncertain future of 'there is always next year' and then walk away from their chance, those pieces of trash who can only make such cowardly choices don't have the right to become Chunin! That's how I feel!" He shouted the last two sentences, inspiring the gathered Genins greatly.

"Those who choose to take it answered the tenth question correctly. You will be able to survive any troubles you face in the future." He said with a smile on his face as the Genins slowly began to congratulate each other. "You made it through the entrance. The first test of the Chunin selection exam is now finished. I wish you all good luck!"

The class totally erupted into cheers as the teammates congratulated each other and make jokes of it. However, the cheering had to stop eventually when suddenly…

Suddenly, a large, black ball crashed through the window, knocking an officer down to the ground and sending glass shrapnel everywhere. A large banner was embedded in the wall by several kunais and a figure jumped out of it.

_'Geez, not this one…' _Ibiki though hopelessly.

The intruder skidded into a stop, revealing a violet haired woman clothed in rather… revealing clothes. "You guys! This is no time to be celebrating!" The lady shouted.

The banner finally stopped flapping around, and everyone could read what was written on it…

_The second test's examiner, the only one, sexy, Mitarashi Anko!_

"I am the examiner for the second test! Miatarshi Anko! Now let's go!" She shouted pumping her fists in the air. "Follow me!"

Unfortunately, she was only met by silence as everyone was too shocked to say anything. "Bad timing…" Ibiki's voice came from behind the banner.

Anko ignored him and scanned over the classroom. "Seventy-eight?! Ibiki! You left twenty-six teams?!" She shouted with disbelief. "The test was too easy this time!"

Ibiki shook his head at his co-worker's rant. "The test was as hard as ever, but his time there is a lot of outstanding ones."

"Bah, that's fine. I'll at least cut them in half in the second test anyways." She announced, getting a lot of scared looks on the Genin's faces, much to her pleasure. "Ahhh, I'm getting excited… I'll explain everything once we've changed places. Follow me!"

* * *

"I knew that she would pass! That's my girl!" Kushina shouted as she watched the exam's end through a camera-broadcast. "You saw how she lifted their spirits? She definitely takes it after you!"

"Agreed, she's really a great Kunoichi." Minato confirmed with a smile on his face. "But we'll see how she'll do in the second test, you know yourself that it's a whole new level."

Kushina narrowed her eyes for a moment, reminding herself of the Forest of Death, but relaxed after a second as she believed that Akiho would make it. "She'll manage easily!" The red-head chirped and plopped on the couch in Minato's office with her favorite book _The Tale of the Gutsy Ninja,_ written by Jiraiya.

"You know… if you didn't promote Naruto to a Chunin, he'd blow through the competition anyways, so why didn't you want him to participate?" Kushina asked out of the blue.

Minato stopped his wrist from signing the document he had in front of him. "You said it yourself, he'd destroy the competition. It would be pointless to put him through it as Danzo's training is harder than the Chunin exam itself." He explained and went back to his paperwork.

Kushina sighed. "I guess… but I'd really love to see my son in the exams anyway." She said quietly, returning to her book, not noticing how Minato abruptly stopped his actions.

The blonde adapted a rather sad look on his face. No matter how he looked at it, Kushina thought of Naruto as of her son. He did too to some extent, even though he knew about Grimmjow.

He sighed and rubbed his temples, and as if on cue, he heard a knock on the door. "Come in!" He called.

The doors opened, only to reveal Yugito and surprisingly Naruto. _'Speak of the devil…' _He thought.

* * *

**Alright folks, I finally defeated my laziness and sat down and god damn I wrote this chapter. I took me so long to even begin, but in the end I managed. Hopefully, from now on I will start pumping out the chapters at a relative pace.**

**About the three questions I asked in my announcement a few weeks back… I won't tell you the first one as it would be a ridiculous spoiler :3 **

**The second one… I will stick to rather canonish Narutoverse, but the Daimyo's will play a larger role. They won't be some uptight assholes who don't care about anything, but some serious players in the story. I will refrain from bringing the big-ass armies of foot troops, but there will be something else.**

**And finally third one - majority wanted the story's atmosphere to stay as it is (I was kindly surprised to see that you like the way I write it). So it will.**

**The next chapter will be obviously the five days in Forest of the Death plus some interaction between Naruto, Minato, Kushina and Yugito. Cheers!**


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